A Blurred Past
by The Fuzz 15
Summary: Sakura finds herself stuck in the past. With the help of a thirteen year old Kakashi she tries to figure out what she needs to change. Not a Kakashi and Sakura pairing! Sasusaku.
1. Confusion and Chocolate

**I'm finally back on Fanfiction! After about a year of being idle I finally bring to you a new story! Hopefully it won't suck too badly...**

Chapter 1: Confusion and Chocolate

The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. Different shades of blues and purples were being taken over by oranges and yellows creating a beautiful sunrise in Konoha. Birds began to chirp back and forth greeting each other for the day and creating music to those awake at this hour. Shopkeepers were opening their shops for the day, greeting each other with smiles and laughter, and bakers were getting their breads and baked goods into the oven. The different smells that wafted through the village combined with the different looks and sounds of each shop, created a happy and simple feel to the village; though, one shinobi was not able to enjoy any of it.

Sakura trudged her way through the quiet streets of Konoha. Her head was hung low in tiredness, and her pink hair hid her dim looking jade eyes. She felt as if she was wading through water. She was dizzy and her head was swimming. The simple task of concentrating on walking in a straight line was nauseating to her. She tried to avoid running into people, but whenever she would dodge someone she would almost lose balance and have to stop to steady herself and hold her forehead in pain.

It was way harder than you may think. She could not remember a time in her life when she had felt this... Strange... She could describe the feeling as being sick, but that didn't quite fit it. She felt weird, like there were several different voices in her head trying to talk at once. She wasn't going insane she knew that. It was more like her consciousness fighting to stay awake was in-between reality and dreams.

You might assume she was headed towards her small one bedroom and bath apartment with a kitchenette and living area, or the hospital she was presently assistant to the head hancho at. But, no, she was on her way to the exit of the village for the simple reason that she was going to see her best friend off on this fine spring day. Well, it was fine for other people just not her. Sakura wasn't one to complain about how she was feeling and always went where she had promised she would no matter how crappy she may have been feeling. There was no way she was going to miss saying goodbye to him for the simple reason that there was no promise he would be coming back. He had never been on a more dangerous mission, and she was not going to stay home and rest instead of saying goodbye to him.

She silently trudged towards Naruto, Captain Yamato, Kakashi, and Sai all of which had come to see Naruto off as well.

"Hey," Sakura mumbled, her nose making her voice sound nasally like she couldn't pronounce her "M's" without them sounding like "B's". She sniffed loudly and then rubbed her nose.

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto greeted excitedly but then taking her in his face dropped and he scratched his cheek. "You look terrible..."

Sakura would have glared or hit him as usual but she was too busy trying not pass out, or to get rid of the feeling that she was going to sneeze, each being equally horrible. She stared blankly at the ground and sort of rocked where she was standing.

"Sakura-Chan...?" Naruto asked after Sakura didn't reply and had to catch herself from passing out. "Sakura-Chan!" he again shouted after she could not catch herself a second time and collapsed, but this time his shout was joined by Captain Yamato. She nearly collapsed on the hard ground, but Captain Yamato was quick and caught her before she hit the ground.

"I'll take her to the hospital, you go on ahead Naruto," Captain Yamato commanded.

"HECK NO!" Naruto yelled unnecessarily loud. "If Sakura-Chan has to be taken to the hospital I'm going with you!"

Before Captain Yamato could protest, Naruto was already stomping his way to the hospital. Captain Yamato sweat-dropped and he and Kakashi jogged after Naruto, Sakura in tow. Sai just stayed in his spot awkwardly and stared after the departing team as the wind began to blow across him.

The hospital was a short journey from the gates and they quickly made it to the doors. They were blasted by cool air as the doors opened. Naruto raced in ahead of Kakashi and Captain Yamato, who was carrying Sakura, and started yelling for a gurney. Kakashi reprimanded him and asked a nurse kindly for a hospital room, because Sakura had passed out.

"Oh goodness," the little nurse exclaimed, though it was more like a squeak, but not like a Hinata squeak.

After an exchange between the nurse and another nurse Sakura was taken to a room on floor 2.

Her condition quickly worsened as she slipped into a coma. Tsunade herself came into the room shortly after Sakura started to toss and turn muttering things like, "Please stop," she then tossed violently and said, "Please, I couldn't... Too hard... I tried..." then she let out a scream of pure agony, "STOP IT!" She was quiet for a few moments then whispered "... Who are you...?"

* * *

><p>Sakura was shrinking. She felt like she was tiny compared to the two looming figures in front of her. To make herself feel much smaller she was also curled into a fetal possession, cowering at the two presences. She felt as if the air was being sucked away from her and each breath took more and more effort.<p>

The one on her left was him. Sasuke Uchiha, the man that broke her heart every time she saw him, his eyes, and the evil intent that showed in them. He still wore the same bored expression that said I could care less and Sakura knew that it meant he could care less about her. . The other was Naruto, but he wasn't quite Naruto. He was the more foxy version of Naruto, not in the 'Oh he's good looking' way, but the way only Naruto could have where he actually looked like a fox. His eyes were red, pupils slitted, and his scars stood out more as well as his teeth looking more canine.

"It's always been your fault Sakura," Naruto spat, sounding as if saying her name was disgusting on his tongue. "You could have stopped Sasuke, you were the one that was weak!"

"I tried, Naruto, but I couldn't" Sakura whimpered holding her fists to her temples.

"You didn't try hard enough!" Naruto shouted making Sakura flinch. "You should have used force after seeing words weren't enough, that's what I did!"

"I didn't have time, he knocked me unconscious before I could do anything!" Sakura defended.

"You were always the weakest one, Sakura," Sasuke stated calmly, every word was laced with a cold, malicious intent, and stung like a knife.

"No, I tried to be stronger, I tried to be stronger for both of you," Sakura cried, but was cut off.

"You never changed, Sakura, no matter what you say you tried to do," Naruto cut in again.

"You were always annoying, Sakura, and you always will be," Sasuke shot back, reminding her of what she really wanted to change most in her life. "Nothing but a thorn in Team 7's side from the very beginning." Sasuke continued coldly.

"You never understood any of us, because you never understood what it was like to be alone," Naruto said in a gruff voice.

"You should have done us all a favor and let yourself die on a mission years ago," Sasuke relentlessly continued. "It's your fault Naruto and I almost died countless times."

"You are nothing but a nuisance!" Naruto roared.

"No, no! Please stop!" Sakura shouted putting her hands on her head and crouching down.

"We always hated you, Sakura," Sasuke said easily.

"Please…" Sakura said crying now, "… Stop… "

It was then that five people emerged, lighting the darkness. Sakura couldn't make out any faces, they were too far away, and the light was too blinding.

Naruto and Sasuke turned around and glared in the direction while shielding their eyes.

"Who are you..?" Sakura asked quietly.

It was then that the light faded just a little. She gasped when she realized who one of them was. She recognized two and had never seen the other two before. One of them was Sasuke, but he was different, he was smiling… The other thing that was different about him was, he was twelve again, not eighteen, but twelve.

She looked at the two that looked familiar, trying to figure out who they were and where she had seen them before. The oldest man was in his late twenties with bright blue eyes and crazy blonde hair that straightened at the bottom, she was able to figure out who he was from pictures she had seen. He was the fourth Hokage, that had died protecting Konoha, Minato. He reminded her of someone, but she couldn't think of whom.

The other man she recognized had charcoal hair tied in a ponytail at his neck and disappeared under his shirt. His eyes were the same charcoal black as his hair, and they were also heavily lidded. He looked very familiar; she then looked from Sasuke to him and remembered who he was: The hated brother of Sasuke, Itachi. Sakura had met him before, she couldn't recognize him at first because he was thirteen, but why was Sasuke so happy when his brother was within a hundred miles of him and why was he thirteen?

One of the two she didn't recognize was a little girl with the same eyes as the fourth Hokage, Minato, and the same nose, but she had bright red hair down to her shoulders, and looked nine years old. The other one was a boy about eleven, with the same bright red hair that was shaggy and blue eyes, he didn't look much like the Fourth, but his eyes. She guessed they were the children of the Fourth, but they also looked a lot like Naruto.

The happy Sasuke began to walk towards her and the darkness dissipated wherever he stepped. He continued to walk even when he came to the dark Naruto and his dark self, and without hesitation, he walked right through them and they instantly disappeared. He crouched down in front of Sakura and extended his hand to her. She flinched in response, but he only smiled and moved his hand closer to her reach.

Sakura took it still openly staring at Sasuke's face. She couldn't believe it, he looked more happy than she had ever seen him. What's more is that Itachi was next to him, the two things just didn't mix. What was going on!

"Sakura," Sasuke began saying, his voice kinder than she had ever heard it, "it's time for you to be happy again."

Sakura was taken aback by his words. What did he mean? She started to follow as they walked towards the darkness that had terrified her before, but now didn't scare her so much.

"Thing have gone very wrong in the world, Sakura," The Fourth told her.

"Is this some kind of pollution speech?" Sakura asked.

The Fourth chuckled, "No, not at all. Things have happened that were never meant to happen, because of one fatal error."

"I don't understand..." Sakura said trying to figure out what the Fourth could possibly mean.

He smiled gently at her. "You will, Sakura."

"What? When?" She asked.

No one answered her.

They came to a long steep staircase and Sakura's feet felt as if they were bolted to the floor. She couldn't go any further.

"Sakura, you have to go back now," Sasuke informed her as he took a step up the staircase.

"I-I can't." Sakura admitted, her feet still felt fused to the floor. "It's too hard, Sasuke."

Itachi turned to her and said, "Yes you can, Sakura, it's of great importance."

The Fourth continued for Itachi, "You must change a decision that will kill many. You have to change the past that was changed before. Stop the mistake that was made."

"I don't understand," Sakura admitted again.

"You have to go back and change everything Sakura," Itachi urged. "You need to go back for everyone."

"But, how do I go back to the past?" Sakura was becoming more urgent with her questions as she saw them fading with every new step they took and a door slowly starting to appear at the top of the stairs.

"You have a way," the little boy informed her and then vanished.

"But what decision?" Sakura asked close to tears. Sasuke was going to leave again.

"You'll know," Sasuke whispered giving her hand a squeeze as they fully disappeared.

Sakura immediately missed their presences. Everything had turned dark and cold once again. The only visible thing was the seemingly glowing door in front of her and the long staircase. She took a deep breath, walked up the stairs, opened the door, took a step forward, and didn't remember what happened afterwards. She just seemed to fall unconscious.

* * *

><p>When Sakura opened her eyes she was in a bed. She looked around and sure enough, she was in the hospital, but it looked different… Newer… The walls were completely white, with not a single bit of yellow. There were no cracks, dents, scratches, tears, or anything. She blinked a few times to try and figure out if she was imagining things.<p>

She sat up after realizing she felt perfectly fine. How can you go from being sicker than you have ever been to being just peachy? She removed the blankets from her legs and got out of the bed.

She proceeded towards the door and froze as the handle began to turn on its own. She immediately scrambled back to the bed and tried to look like she had never left.

"Oh, Miss, you're awake!" A nurse exclaimed happily when the door finally opened.

"Yes," Sakura responded. Was she new at the hospital? Because, Sakura had never seen this girl before in her life, and with the way the girl was acting, she had never seen Sakura either.

"I'm glad, you've been out for a day now. It's a miracle that Namikaze-Sama and his team even found you.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"You were found outside of the village unconscious. Where are you from anyway? And what were you doing right outside the village?" the nurse asked.

"I'm from here, this village." Sakura said getting uneasy.

"I'm sorry Miss Sakura, but no one knows who you are, there's no record of a Sakura Kuran in Konoha."

Sakura cocked her head to the side, Kuran? How was she labeled Kuran? Not wanting to be labeled insane as well as a false name, she feigned ignorance. "Konoha? Oh," she laughed at herself, "I thought I was still in Suna!"

The nurse laughed too, but her laugh wasn't fake, "Oh, I see the confusion now. But how did you get all the way to Konoha?"

"I don't know…" Sakura said uneasily. "That's what confuses me…"

"Were you on your way here possibly?" the nurse asked.

"Hmm," Sakura thought of an excuse, "I actually was! A relative of mine died, so I came to visit the family…"

"Oh… That's terrible," the nurse sighed, "Was it poor Obito Uchiha?"

"Obito Uchiha…?" Sakura asked. Uchiha? What the heck? Sakura just went with it though, "Oh, yes, yes it was... I'm sorry, we were really close, I'm still in shock." Sakura knew how to act like she had just lost someone close to her. She had seen plenty of people in that kind of situation

"Oh… Poor Obito, he was so young wasn't he? Only twelve years old…" the nurse sighed. "I feel sorry for Namikaze-Sama and the other two on his team, Kakashi and Rin. And especially the family."Sakura hid her shock. How in the world was that possible…? Sasuke was the only Uchiha left alive. Namikaze-Sama? That was the name of the Fourth, so why was he alive? And Kakashi? He wasn't on any other team except her's.

"Would you like someone to take you to the family?" the nurse asked Sakura kindly.

"No, no..." Sakura said trying to think of a way out of this. "I know how to get there." She faked a smile and the nurse returned it, not realizing Sakura's deception.

"Well, you can go now. We didn't detect anything fatal, it must have just been exhaustion." the nurse informed Sakura and then walked towards the door. Sakura thought she was about to be able to leave when luck laughed at her.

A man with the Uchiha symbol on his shirt was walking by.

"Uchiha-sama!" the little nurse called.

The man's head showed in the door and Sakura recognized him as Sasuke's father.

"How in the-" Sakura whispered, but then he spoke.

"Hm?" Fugaku asked.

"This girl says she was a friend of Obito's. She came for the memorial." the nurse explained.

Fugaku looked her over. "Does she have a place to stay?"

"Um... No..." Sakura answered truthfully.

"Come along then." he commanded.

"Okay," Sakura said uncertainly standing up and following. This man was very commanding.

He turned on his heel and started walking quickly down the hall. Sakura had to run to him to keep up. Why was he alive? Things just kept getting more and more confusing and she didn't think they could get anymore confusing.

She was very wrong.

She was walking awkwardly behind Fugaku Uchiha into the main room of the hospital when she saw him. He was sitting in a chair and looking at the ground. His fists were clinched so hard his knuckles were turning white. A bandage was wrapped around his left eye and a mask covered up half of his face.

Kakashi.

But at the same time he wasn't Kakashi. He was thirteen not thirty-two. How was that possible?

She didn't know why but for some reason she felt she shouldn't look at him or make any sort of eye contact - though, eye contact would have been hard since he was staring at the floor completely detached from the world. Fugaku chose this time to turn and look at Sakura causing him to follow her stare and see Kakashi. Now, obviously Fugaku knew that Kakashi was on Obito's team, so he chose this time to try and comfort Kakashi.

Sakura held her breath as Fugaku started walking towards Kakashi. Fugaku then knelt in front of Kakashi and Kakashi looked up and him, eye red-rimmed.

"Fugaku... Sama" Kakashi addressed added "sama" in quickly as if he had forgotten. Sakura was taken more aback when he talked. Talking just made him all the more real. He was so young. It was weird for Sakura to be older than the man that was usually fourteen years older. What the heck was going on!

"Kakashi," Fugaku addressed only using his name as well, making things just a tidbit awkward.

"I'm sorry, Uchiha-sama," Kakashi said looking away. "I let one of your clan die. If only I hadn't been so-"

"Enough, Kakashi," Fugaku commanded and immediately Kakashi closed his mouth. "Obito knew the risk he was taking, there was nothing you can do. Honor his memory instead of living in guilt over it."

Kakashi looked at the ground again, but nodded slowly.

Sakura extended her hand a little in an attempt to comfort her, but she remembered that he probably wouldn't know who she was. She took her hand back and thought that no one had noticed, but Fugaku watched as she extended her hand, froze, and then took it back.

"Well, Sakura, we should be going now." Fugaku said starting to walk again.

"Ah!" Sakura exclaimed and then followed. "Right!"

Sakura followed behind Fugaku awkwardly for an hour as he ran some errands before heading home. Throughout the entire trip he didn't speak one word to her. He handed her bag and she took that to mean she was supposed to hold it.

"Um, thanks..." Sakura said, and then thought sarcastically to herself, "_So this is where Sasuke gets his gentlemanly actions..._"

"Well go ahead..." Fugaku said watching her as she took the bag.

"Um... What...? I don't understand..." Sakura asked.

Fugaku sighed as if she was missing the most obvious thing in the world. "It's chocolate..." Fugaku said as if that would give her her answer.

"Okay..." Sakura said nodding her head slowly. "I'm still confused..."

Fugaku sighed again. "You're supposed to eat it. You lost someone close to you and met someone you know well but didn't remember you..."

Sakura stared at him mouth open. Had he seen her reach out to Kakashi but then take her hand back and perceived that much from the small action? "Wha- how could you have?" Sakura asked shocked.

"I'm an Uchiha, Sakura," Fugaku said with something that might have been a grin, "we are good at perceiving things."

Sakura chuckled at this. "Yes, I suppose you are..."

"We'll be going home now then..." Fugaku said walking away again without a glance behind him to see if she was following. Without really knowing why, Sakura's face broke out in a grin.

**I realize that there are probably about a bajillion typos in this and I apologize. I wrote this about a year ago and finally posted it. Keep me dedicated to writing it!**


	2. Some Tales Break the Heart

**Something to keep in mind before you read this chapter: Though it is never said it's kind of understood that no one will remember Sakura when she leaves. Enjoy!**

Chapter Two: Some Tales Break the Heart**  
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Sakura nibbled on the little piece of chocolate while following behind Fugaku. It was strange that she was going to be staying at their house, but she was okay with it. She thought it might even be fun to see his family before they all lost it. Not that she enjoyed the idea of them all going nuts and wanting to take over Konoha.

Fugaku opened the door but didn't bother waiting for Sakura and went ahead inside. She grumbled inwardly at his lack of gentlemanly manners while she pulled her shoes off quickly and laid them neatly in a corner. She performed a fast walk to catch up with Fugaku. She didn't want to show up after him and have his wife wondering who in the world she was. Plus, she had no idea where anything was in this house. She may have stalked Sasuke for a little while when she was younger but she never actually went _inside_ his house.

"Mikoto," Fugaku said unceremoniously and not even bothering to greet her, "this is Sakura Kuran. She says she's a distant relative of

Obito's, probably from his mother's side, and has come to pay her respects. She'll be staying with us until she leaves."

Sakura bowed respectfully to Mikoto. How in the world did this lady end up with such a grump? She remembered meeting her one time

when she was little and thinking that she may have been the nicest woman she had ever met. She was a little biased

given the fact that

she had been "in love" with her son at that point and time.

Mikoto smiled warmly at Sakura and walked towards her. "Nice to meet you Sakura. Please, make yourself feel at home here."

"Thank you," Sakura

said straightening up from her bowing position.

"Where are your bags, Sakura?" Mikoto asked politely.

"Oh, I'm afraid that they were stolen on my way here," Sakura explained quickly. It wasn't the best she could come up with on such

short notice.

"Hm," Mikoto said looking at Sakura from head to toe, "I'm afraid that won't do... I don't think my clothes will fit, I still have a few extra

pounds to lose after having Itachi, so I guess we have no choice but to go shopping." Mikoto sighed the last part making it seem like it was

something she really didn't want to do but was being forced into, but Sakura could see the sparkle in her eye at the mention of buying

clothes

for someone.

Sakura turned to see Fugaku's reaction to his wife's idea of buying a wardrobe for a complete stranger and found that he wasn't in the

room anymore. She shrugged and turned back to the excited Mikoto.

"I suppose Fugaku can watch Itachi while we're gone and can order himself some dinner which means," Mikoto said smiling

mischievously, "nothing is stopping us from shopping. Come along then!"

Mikoto grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled her along behind her as she practically ran out of the house.

"I hope you don't mind my excitement over taking you shopping, Sakura," Mikoto said. "It's just, I am constantly with two guys, and

don't get me wrong I love my two men, but sometimes I just want some girl time."

"Oh, I completely understand," Sakura said. "I'm the only girl in my three man squad and I miss the company of girls sometimes as well."

"I'm glad you understand!" Mikoto exclaimed seeming relieved. "If you don't like shopping we can always do something else..."

"I'm an eighteen year old girl," Sakura laughed. "Of course I like shopping!"

"Good!" Mikoto sighed. She dragged Sakura over to a store that must have closed before Sakura's time, because she didn't recall ever seeing it before. "So tell me more about yourself Sakura."

"Like what?" Sakura asked.

"Like, are you a ninja in your village or just a regular towns person? You don't have a headband so I would assume towns person. Where do you work? How many family members do you have? Do you have a boyfriend? The basics," Mikoto laughed.

"Oh, well," Sakura said noticing for the first time that her headband wasn't on her head. "I'm a ninja, my birthday is March 28th, I work at a hospital, I live with my mother, father, and sister, and no, I don't have a boyfriend."

"That's surprising considering you're such an attractive young woman," Mikoto tsked.

Sakura laughed awkwardly and continued walking feeling a little more uncomfortable than before.

Three and a half hours later and Mikoto had successfully bought Sakura a wardrobe that could last for a month long visit as well as toilitries.

"Are you getting hungry?" Mikoto asked as they exited the last shop.

Sakura's stomach growled in response to the question. "Starved."

Mikoto let out a light laugh and asked Sakura where she would like to go.

"Some place that sells Ramen," Sakura answered after thinking for a little while.

Mikoto took Sakura to a ramen stall that wasn't Ichiraku and Sakura wondered vaguely if it was even open yet. Sakura and Mikoto looked around for a place to sit when Mikoto spotted someone she knew. The girl was about thirteen with short brown hair and light brown eyes. She had purple rectangles on her cheeks and reminded Sakura vaguely of Kiba. She removed the thought from her head when she saw that the girl was obviously depressed with dried tear tracks on her cheeks.

Sakura followed behind Mikoto and peered over her shoulder as Mikoto started talking to the girl.

"Hello, Rin," Mikoto greeted kindly. "How are you holding up?"

Rin seemed to be staring into blank space and was brought back to reality with Mikoto's question. Her ramen had been untouched and seemed to have cooled a long time ago. Sakura guessed that this was the Rin that was on Obito's team along with Kakashi.

Rin looked at Mikoto and new tears were brought to her eyes as she shook her head in response to Mikoto's question. Mikoto slid into the booth next to Rin and put her arm around her but Rin looked as though she was fighting her tears.

"It's okay Rin, you don't have to be strong in front of me," Mikoto said gently and in response Rin let out a sob and clung to Mikoto's shirt.

"I-if I hadn't let my guard down h-he would still be here," Rin's voice was muffled by Mikoto's shirt as she shook from her sobs. Sakura mentally winced at Rin's words; she knew what it was like to blame herself for someone leaving. It hurt and nothing people said to you could ever remove the blame you had put on yourself.

Sakura felt awkward standing while Mikoto comforted Rin, so she slid into the booth opposite them.

"Rin, you can't blame yourself for something like that," Mikoto said her words growing slightly harsher. "Accidents happen on missions, that's the risk you take when you become a ninja.

"I know, but now I just feel guilty," Rin mumbled into Mikoto, "Kakashi told me that Obito had cared for me and I didn't return his feelings. Instead I liked Kakashi and I just feel so guilty-"

"Rin," Sakura found herself inputting. "it does hurt when someone doesn't return your love, but you get over the pain and you move one. Sometimes you hang on because you want to help them but the hurt goes away after a while. I believe that Obito was just happy loving you and helping you. I don't think he needed your returned love to feel perfectly happy when around you, so don't feel guilty over this."

"Maybe the part that really hurts," Rin whispered, "is that I lost a teammate and was rejected in the same day. Kakashi cut me off by telling me Obito had cared for me. That stung. It was like he was saying, 'Remember what's really important, Rin.'"

"I'm sure that's not what it meant," Mikoto reassured her.

Rin sniffed and turned to Sakura. "What about you Sakura?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked fiddling with the table cloth. She knew exactly what Rin had meant and was hoping to avoid this if at all possible.

"What's your story in love?" Rin asked. "I could use a good story right now."

Sakura's head drooped. She was afraid that this would be brought up.

"Oh, Sakura doesn't have a boyfriend," Mikoto said.

"Really?" Rin asked shocked. "That's surprising.

Sakura glanced at Mikoto briefly thinking of her son and then back to Rin. "If you want a good story then I'm afraid mine isn't the one you want to hear," Sakura admitted trying to laugh it off.

"Nonsense," Mikoto urged, "it's goo to get it off your chest even if it's sad."

Sakura smiled dryly to herself, pretty much everyone she knew knew the story. It was painful to tell, so she told them it was.

"So was mine," Rin admitted, "but I must say it feels good to get it off my chest."

Sakura admitted it sounded good; even though everyone knew the story she had never been able to tell anyone to see if it helped her feel better. It was worth a shot. "Okay," Sakura gave in straightening up in her chair, "get ready because this is a long one... Let me think, where to start?" She didn't know whether or not to say his actual name or not, but then decided it would get it off her chest more if she said his actual name. "Ah, I know. This is the story of how a boy named Sasuke broke my heart."

"Ooh, I have always loved that name," Mikoto added but then urged Sakura to continue.

"I was seven when I first me him: the star pupil of the class and the boy every girl my age adored, Sasuke. I was teased for my large forehead when I was little, so I tried to cover it with my hair; instead I was called a sheep dog. It hurt to be a social outcast at the age of seven.

"I was in the bushes at the playground and crying when he entered the bushes while playing hide and seek. He was startled that I was there and crying. He asked me what was wrong so I told him how people called me a sheep dog and billboard brow." Sakura smiled sadly at the memory of what she was about to say. "He then told me, "I don't think you look like a sheep dog! In fact, I like girls with long hair!" His mother then told him it was time to go and my crush on Sasuke began. I'll admit until the age of twelve I foolishly told him and everyone I was "in love" with him. I shudder at how I acted back then.

"I lucked out and was put on the same squad as him. The first real conversation we had ended with him calling me annoying - and I was - then leaving. He had grown cold as he got older because he had suffered a hard past that had him bent on revenge."

"Why was he bent on revenge?" Rin asked absorbed in Sakura's story.

Sakura smiled sadly. "His entire family had been killed by his older brother and he was never the same. I understand why he would do the things he did because of it, but it still doesn't make it right.

"As time passed with him on my team I grew to like him more - cold as he was - but I couldn't call it love because my feelings had never been tested before. But, the time came when they had to be tested. He had been promised power from an unreliable source and he took it not caring about the consequences. I tried to stop him with words. I begged, I screamed, I asked him to take me with him, I tried _everything_, I even told him I loved him to which he knocked me unconscious, and left me on a bench.

"My friend tried to stop him but failed. Sasuke was officially a missing-nin at the age of thirteen. that was when I was tested and that was when I realized I loved him."

"Sakura, I'm so-" Mikoto started but Sakura raised her hand for silence.

"I'm not done," Sakura said in a way that said, "it gets worse.""Three years passed, he went on to kill his brother only to discover his brother was good all along. He then swore to demolish the town he came from. He is blinded by revenge and is too corrupted for saving, but somehow I find I still hope because I still love him; even if he's almost killed me twice," she didn't know when she started crying but she could feel the hot tears on her face. She looked up and Rin was crying as well as Mikoto.

"Revenge does horrible things to people," Mikoto sobbed. "I just pray it does not ruin my family as it does so many ninja."

At Mikoto's words Sakura felt her heart break and she began crying harder. If only Sasuke could have known the life he was living was not one his mother would be proud of.

"Everyone here probably things we're out of our minds," Sakura said wiping tears from her face.

"Most likely," Rin laughed.

"I'll order us some ramen, Sakura," Mikoto said standing up and walking toward the counter.

"I guess I should look at the positive side and stop crying. Things could be worse," Rin said looking at Sakura.

Sakura reached across the table and patter Rin's hand. "It's okay for you to be sad. You just lost a comrade. No one will think any less of you for crying; though, they might if you don't react."

Rin smiled sadly.

"I felt weak when Sasuke left because I couldn't stop him and all I could do was cry, but one day my friend told me he would said I was a liar for years if I didn't cry."

Rin began crying again and Sakura felt her face heat up as tears stung her eyes again.

It felt good to finally have said everything. She wondered if Naruto felt that good after telling people his story every time. It felt good to be able to cry in front of people. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried openly in front of someone and tell them the reason for it. It felt wonderful.

The night passed by quickly and even though there were many tears, Sakura felt it was a good night.

**Rin may sound kind of shallow in this chapter but I promise I don't mean for her too! I also apologize for the semi pointless chapter, but I feel Sakura always has a cry scene in fanfictions and I thought I would go ahead and get mine over with ;P**

** This chapter didn't end with a cliff hanger and the last one didn't either but there will be some later on! HA HA!**


	3. Precision and Endurance

Chapter Three: Precision and Endurance

Sakura woke up one morning feeling well rested and refreshed. She didn't know what the day was going to bring. She found being in the past made things a bit unpredictable... Like how she ran into her parents the other day and a young Gai sensei who looked exactly like Rock Lee, or did that make Rock Lee look exactly like Gai? She tried not to think about it it was far too confusing. She had barely escaped a conversation with Gai about the power of youthfulness or something along those lines.

She leapt from the bed and put on one of the new articles of clothing that Mikoto had bought her. A simple while v-neck with 3/4 sleeves and black running shorts. She felt weird not being in her usual clothes and her head felt naked without her leaf headband. She patted her head wistfully and let out a sigh.

She slipped on her shoes and jogged downstairs.

"Morning Sakura," Mikoto greeted while putting a plate in front of Itachi who was peering over his chair at her. He had developed some sort of fascination with her that somewhat weirded her out. It was almost as if he knew that she was from the future. Even though he was only five she felt like he was a few years older than her.

She looked around and didn't see Fugaku anywhere. She was getting used to his absence throughout the day. He seemed to rarely be there in the mornings.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Mikoto asked.

"After my run," Sakura answered opening the door and slipping out. She immediately started running and felt relief. Every time she was running she felt as if she was on top of the world! Like she could do anything! It was so freeing. Running always helped her clear her head and boy did it need clearing.

She had been running for twenty straight minutes (pretty unimpressive for her) when she almost literally ran into someone she knew. She skidded to a stop in front of him and immediately apologized. "Sorry!" she exclaimed bowing in front of him. He stared blankly in front of him and made no sign he had heard her or noticed she had almost run into him. "Hey," Sakura said waving her hand in front of him, "Kakashi-sen-" She caught herself before finishing the word sensei.

He blinked a few times and noticed her for the first time even though she had almost made him sprawl onto the pavement.

"You okay?" Sakura asked. She had never seen Kakashi like this, even when Sasuke had betrayed them.

"Huh?" Kakashi asked. "Uh, yeah. I'm good." He started walking the other direction.

"You sure?" Sakura asked him looking over her shoulder and staring at the back of his head.

He stopped. "Why do you care?" She could tell from the way his back tensed after he said the words he hadn't meant for them to be so harsh.

"Well. Because..." _you're my sensei? _She couldn't tell him that. "You seem sad..." It sounded lame but it was the best she had.

He laughed bitterly. "I am sad. I'm thirteen and I've already lost two people close to me."

Sakura was taken aback. She knew about Obito but who else had he lost? "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"With someone I don't know? Not particularly," Kakashi answered and started walking away.

That was expected. Just because she knew him well didn't mean he did. She had to remind herself he had no clue who she was. She laughed inwardly at how her actions seemed somewhat stalkerish.

"Kakshi," A voice called from behind Sakura. Sakura turned at the same time as Kakashi and her now almost dropped. Standing in front of her, live and in person, was the Fourth Hokage. Except, he wasn't the Fourth Hokage yet. It felt like she was in the presence of a celebrity... Which... She was...

She had seen picture of him and always thought him attractive but in person he was even more so.

"Yes, sensei?" Kakashi asked. Sakura felt her jaw actually drop slightly this time. The Fourth was Kakashi's sensei?

"We were supposed to meet at the bridge this morning for training on your new eye," Minato replied. "You've missed five training sessions.

"I must have forgotten,"Kakashi shrugged.

"You must have forgotten that Obito left that eye as a gift to you so you could use it, not pretend it doesn't exist," Minato replied easily almost as if he had been expecting Kakashi's response. "You can't keep avoiding using it, Kakashi, that would be an insult to Obito's memory."

"How would you know?" Kakashi suddenly burst. "How would you feel if you suddenly had a Sharingan after letting the owner die because of your immature foolishness during a mission? Because to me it feels like the Uchihas look at me in detestation for possessing their Kekkei Genkei! Like my left eye is an insult from the foolish little boy that let their clan member die!"

Sakura contemplated what Kakashi had said. If that's how he felt then, how did Sasuke's anger about his Sharingan make him feel?

Minato didn't flinch once. "The Kakashi on that mission may have been foolish, but not immature. However, how you are acting now is very much like the tantrum of an immature little boy. It's more of an insult to the Uchihas that you're pretending nothing happened and that you don't possess their cherished Kekkei Genkei. Even worse, you seem to act as though it's a curse that their clan gave to you instead of a gift!" Minato responded. Though he raised his voice it didn't sound like he was angry. It was more of an I-Am-Your-Sensei-So-I-Know-Better-Than-Thou voice. "Uchihas are very proud, Kakashi, and I don't thing the clan leader enjoys being stood up for training sessions by thirteen year old boys."

So that's where Fugaku had been!

"Speaking of Uchihas," Minato said. It was as if he hadn't just knocked some sense into his students head. "I hear you're staying with Fugaku for a little while."

It took Sakura a little while to realize he was talking to her.

"You must be Sakura Kuran," Minato said bowing, "nice to meet you. I am Minato Namikaze." He flashed Sakura a grin and she was reminded briefly of someone. "I see you were running."

"Oh, yes," Sakura said. She had almost forgotten she had been out for a run. "Just staying in shape."

"Well if that's the case, and I'm sure Fugaku doesn't mind me asking, would you like to join Fugaku and I for a training session?" Minato asked. "We have both found that our schedules are quite open for a spar if you would like to join us?"

Sakura knew the last words were somewhat directed to his uncooperative student but she found the idea of learning some tips from the Fourth Hokage and head of the Uchiha clan was an opportunity she could not pass up.

"That would be great!" Sakura exclaimed. She wished there was some way that she could tell Naruto or Lady Tsunade about this! She would have to make Lady Tsunade proud in this training session.

"Come along then," Minato said motioning her forward. Sakura turned briefly to look at Kakashi but found he was no longer there. She shrugged and ran after Minato.

After they were walking for a little while Minato turned to her. "I apologize for Kakashi's behavior. He hasn't quite been his self since Obito's death."

"You don't need to apologize for him. I'm sure he'll bounce back better than ever!" Sakura assured him.

Minato smiled slightly and again remind her a little of someone. "He hasn't had an easy life. I'm sure you've her of The White Fang of the Leaf."

Sakura knew of him. He was said to have been better than The Fourth Hokage, but he had committed suicide when he was degraded by everyone in the village for giving up an important mission to save his comrades. "Yes."

"That was Kakashi's Father," Minato explained.

"_That must have been the second person Kakashi had lost," _Sakura thought to herself.

"His death caused Kakashi to be a stickler for the rules," Minato sighed. "It hardened him at a young age I'm afraid."

Sakura felt a twinge of sadness. Had Kakashi lost someone in every kind of relation in his life? He had lost family, a teacher, a dear friend, and a student. Had he lost a lover as well? "I never knew he had a son," Sakura whispered. She couldn't keep the sadness from her voice.

"It's best not to dwell on the things of the past, Sakura," Minato assured her. Sakura laughed a little to herself; too late she was going to be dwelling in the past for who knew how long? "Ah, here's Fugaku now!"

Fugaku turned to Minato from where he was standing on the bridge. Sakura noticed that it was the bridge Team 7 always met at. The red paint was less faded and the wood looked almost new. Sakura walked over to the railing and put her feet on the first row of railing. She leaned over and watched as the water ran under the bridge.

"Minato, I though I was training the Hatake boy," Fugaku grumbled, "not some girl." If Sakura had been baying close attention she may have been slightly offended.

"He's still having trouble coming to terms with things," Minato explained. "So, I figured we could train with Sakura instead. She's a ninja and she doesn't really know anyone here. It would be a shame to let her get out of practice."

"I suppose," Fugaku consented, but he sounded like there were a million other things he would rather be doing.

"Come on, Sakura," Minato said calling to Sakura and bringing her out of dreamland. Sakura followed behind Fugaku and Minato who seemed to be whispering to each other something that they didn't want Sakura to hear. She was slightly curious so she listened as hard as she could. She could only catch a few words. Fugaku had said, "It may be preposterous..." and Minato had said something like, "We'll never know without trying..."

Something was suspicious...

"We'll start off by warming up and then you can show us some of your basic skills and we'll help you out with some things." Fugaku droned. "I'll give you some tips on being accurate with a kunai and being less predictable in your actions while Minato will help you with speed and analyzing. What are your specific skills, Sakura?"

"I'm a medical-nin and I push Chakra to my hands or feet to make my attacks stronger," Sakura answered.

"Can you show us?" Minato asked.

Sakura pulled out a pair of gloves she always carried around incase she needed them and slipped them onto her hands. She concentrated her chakra to her fist and punched the ground. A fissure started spreading down the training ground, and the ground began coming un-level as Sakura created her mini explosion.

Minato whistled, and he and Fugaku exchanged glances.

"I'm assuming your chakra control is already very good since you are a medic-nin," Fugaku said as if he would rather be anywhere else but here. Sakura nodded while she inwardly glared at him. She would show him she was worth his time! "But that doesn't necessarily mean you have an experience with a kunai or being unpredictable."

Sakura nodded.

"First exercise, which I do a lot with my son, Itachi," Fugaku said walking next to her. "You will see some targets on various trees and one on the ground behind that rock. Throwing all of your kunai, at around the same time, I went you to hit dead center on every target."

"How many targets are there?"

"Six on the trees, one behind the rock."

Sakura pulled out seven kunai and ran through several possibilities of how she was going to hit all seven targets. The trees wouldn't be too hard, it was the rock that was tricky. There was too much risk in arching a kunai so that it would land on the target; she couldn't aim accurately that way. She decided to use her first try as a trial run to get a basic idea of where she would need to throw it. She lobed the first one in the air at a semi-calculated angle and threw the other five at once with three kunai in one hand and two on the other. She missed the one on the rock by about five feet but at least she had a basic idea of where to throw the next one. The other five had hit bullseye but not dead-center as Fugaku had instructed. She grabbed six more and was about to throw the kunai at the angle she had calculated to be correct based on the first throw when Fugaku slammed into her and knocked her to the ground. He put one foot on her stomach and the other on her right arm.

"Ow..." Sakura moaned slightly.

"In a battlefield you would be unable to make a test shot. If you missed your first shot then that's it, you've alerted the enemy of your presence and you're dead. You don't have time to make another shot!" Fugaku yelled at her. Sakura nodded as he got off of her. He was right, she needed to be able to make a shot first try. "Yes sir," Sakura grunted bowing her head slightly in embarrassment of her mistake.

"Now then," Minato started, "fifty laps around the training grounds and then make your shot at the targets. You drop your pace once I'll kick you in the shin."

Sakura sweat dropped. She was supposed to run fifty laps around the grounds without dropping her pace? This was the biggest training ground in Konoha.

Forty minutes later, with very bruised shins, Sakura had made her shots and missed terribly. She was greeted by a thwack on the arm from a stick Fugaku had picked up off the ground while he shouted "Concentrate!" She then collapsed to catch her breath. Minato had been running next to her the whole time without breaking a sweat.

"You need to learn to pace yourself Sakura," Minato sighed. "On the battlefield if you were to push yourself too hard it would result in botched shots, wasted chakra, and the loss of your life or your comrades."

Sakura groaned in frustration. She felt as though she was a Genin again. She had earned her title of Jounin and these two were making her feel like a beginner.

"Don't get frustrated," Minato laughed. "You're not used to this kind of training." He said it as if he knew what kind of training she had had, it made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

Sakura jumped to her feet panting. "Again!"

* * *

><p>Sakura stumbled into the Uchiha's house with Fugaku looking grim behind her. She was pouring sweat and hurting all over. She had forgotten how tired you could get from training. Fugaku and Minato had successfully pushed her as far as she could go until the sun had set only stopping for lunch.<p>

"Hello!" Mikoto greeted happily with a bowl of food in her hand. "How was training?" She asked as if Sakura's appearance wasn't answer enough.

"Tough," Sakura said at the same time Fugaku said, "Fine."

Mikoto smiled. "Dinner's ready if you're hungry."

Fugaku sat at the head of the table. Mikoto sat to his right and Itachi to his left while Sakura sat to Itachi's left.

"How was academy?" Fugaku asked Itachi.

Itachi poked at his soub and answered, "Good. We learned about transformation jutsus and the teacher asked me to come up and give an example again."

Fugaku nodded as if he expected nothing less from his son. No pressure for Itachi, right?

An awkward silence settled over the dinner table as it usually did during dinner. Sakura filled the silence with an accidentally loud slurp of her soup. Itachi stifled a laugh and took a quiet slurp of his own soup earning him a glare from his Father.

"Enough, Itachi," Fugaku growled.

"Yes sir," Itachi said lowering his head to his lap. Sakura looked at Itachi in a pitying sort of way. Had Itachi ever truly been allowed to live his own life? First his Father controlled him, then the Elders, then the Akatsuki. When had he ever _lived?_

Sakura was suddenly struck with an idea. What was it that had made the Uchihas plan a coup? Something about the village not trusting them from something that happened? Was that the thing she was supposed to change? Was she supposed to help them be less restricted and suspected?

Something inside Sakura told her she was correct.

**Has Sakura finally figured out what she needs to change? Hmmm? I know my timeline isn't correct about the whole living restrictions but I had to change it just a little bit for the story to go correctly.**

**Kakashi is quite the angsty one isn't he?**


	4. The Hinderance

**The Hinderance**

Sakura returned to the Uchihas home at 2 A.M. To say she was exhausted would be an understatement. She had almost slept at the training grounds because she felt she would pass out on her way back. She felt disgusting too; her body was covered in sweat and grime but she could't find it in herself to care. She just wanted to go back to the bed she had been sleeping in for two weeks.

She had been out training late trying to perfect what she had learned. Fugaku and Minato had continued training with her throughout the week and told her they would gladly continue training her as long as she was staying in Konoha - or at least Minato said he would gladly do it.

Her skills had improved during the week; she could keep an even pace for a long amount of time, but it wasn't a very fast pace. She could successfully hit the tree targets dead center and actually touch the target behind the rock. She could even hold her own in sparring matches; though, Fugaku told her she was too predictable in how she was more defense than offense and had started training her to be less predictable.

She wondered if Kakashi would ever start training with them? Then it would be like old times: Kakshi, her, a grumpy Uchiha, and a light-hearted blonde. She smiled as a mental image of Team 7 popped into her head. Maybe Naruto was the person Minato reminded her of?

She felt a tightness in her throat as she lay on the bed. She missed her friends. She missed actually knowing people. The fact that Kakashi was being so cold towards her hurt a lot too.

She refused to let the feeling of sadness take over; she was passed tears by now, they were pointless and would get her no where.

She didn't recall when she fell asleep. She only realized she was asleep when she heard someone faintly calling her name telling her that something had gone wrong. She woke up and found it to be the morning and no one was anywhere near her, much less calling to her. She shrugged her feeling of foreboding off and grabbed some clothes from the closet she was using and headed to the shower. She felt much more refreshed and was excited that she had a day off from training. She thought maybe she would go for a walk; she had been in the past for two weeks and hadn't really seen how different everything looked.

Before she turned the handle to the bathroom door to exit she heard raised voices.

"Fugaku, I know that you feel we're being isolated but I don't think that it's as intentional as you believe," Mikoto was heard trying to be the voice of reason.

"Mikoto, something's off. They've slowly been cutting off our privileges and you know that!" Fugaku said unnecessarily loud. "Danzo's always been jealous of the Uchiha and has been trying to get rid of us in anyway he can. The third is getting too old and Danzo's using him for a puppet."

"Honey, I agree with you that the Third's age is a bit of a hazard to the village but try not to dwell on it too much." Mikoto soothed. Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Sakura found herself chuckling. If the Third had been considered old then what did people think about him coming out of retirement after the Fourth's death. She felt a pang in her chest, she had grown attached to Minato and didn't want him to die. Maybe she could change that as well.

Sakura opened the bathroom door noisily so they would hear her and stop their conversation.

"Good morning!" Sakura greeted completely unswayed by the death glare Fugaku was giving her. "I think I'm going to go for a walk." She walked to get her shoes and then out the door.

How was it she was going to give the Uchihas there freedom back? She knew now that that's what she _had _to change, so many lives depended on it. The only question was the way she could do that. It seemed connected to the Third in some way... She could tell him to use his own ideas instead of someone else's, but did she really want a senile old man to be determining a clan's - maybe even a village's - fate? She needed help, but that would involve telling someone she was from the future. Was she even aloud to tell someone that? Did that go against some sort of unspoken rule?

She turned down a street to her left and saw Kakashi. Maybe if she told him he would actually talk to her and stop treating her like dirt... Or he could just think she was an even bigger wacko than he thought before. She had made up her mind; she was going to talk to Kakashi!

She almost ran into someone. He prevented the collision by grabbing her by her shoulders and stopping her.

"Ah!" Sakura exclaimed. "Sorry, my head was in the clouds!"

"It's okay," the man laughed, "sometimes having our head in the clouds is better than reality."

"Very true," Sakura agreed. He reminded her of someone... She couldn't figure out who though. He was around her age.

"My name's Daisuke," Daisuke said extending his hand to Sakura's.

"Sakura," Sakura greeted shaking his hand.

"Where are you off to on such a fine morning, Sakura?" Daisuke asked bouncing on the balls of his feet while his hands were in his pockets. Again, something was familiar about him...

"Just walking to nowhere in particular," Sakura shrugged. She was supposed to be thinking of something, but she couldn't remember what. Had it been important?

"Mind if I join you?" Daisuke asked smirking.

"Not at all," Sakura said.

"So, you're from Suna, right?" Daisuke asked.

"Yeah," Sakura responded.

"I've never been, but I've always wanted to go," Daisuke said. "It's always amazed me how they can function so well in those living conditions!"

"Yeah, it is hard to function when you have sand in your clothes," Sakura lamented.

Daisuke let out a laugh that sounded so familiar it had her heart hurting; though, she could swear she had never heard it before.

"I can only imagine," Daisuke agreed. "That's why I never liked the beach. Even if you had just gone walking you always seemed to need to shower off sand that got in your clothes somehow."

"It is quite a downer," Sakura agreed. Hadn't she overheard an important conversation this morning? "That's why I've always dreamed of living in Konoha: No sand."

"You should just move here then, I doubt you'll miss the feeling of san," Daisuke suggested.

Sakura laughed. "I'm afraid that's quite impossible," Sakura responded looking at him. His hair was brown - or was it blonde - short and straight - or was it long and curly? His eyes were blue - or were they brown - and he was clean shaven - or did he have a beard? Why couldn't she figure out what he looked like?

"Why?" he asked.

Yeah, Sakura asked herself, why? Why couldn't she stay here? Away from trouble and heartache. Why should she have to leave? She stopped walking. "I don't know."

"So why leave?" Daisuke asked smirking. Something seemed to be screaming in her mind to come to her senses.

"I don't know," Sakura answered. She was sure she had had all sorts of reasons before... What had they been?

_"Sakura snap out of it!" _something screamed in her head.

Why? she asked. Daisuke seemed so nice...

"Sakura!" She heard Minato call from across the street. "What are you u p to? You seem in a daze."

"Oh, I was just talking to..." Sakura turned but didn't see Daisuke anywhere. "I hd been talking to someone named Daisuke. He left me with a good question."

"I don't know any Daisukes. What did he look like?" Minato asked trying to figure out if he knew him.

"Oh, he had..." What _had _he looked like? "Strange... I don't recall..."

Minato shrugged and asked Sakura what she was up to.

"Just enjoying the sights and doing some thinking..." Sakura said. She finally remembered what she had been thinking about! How could she have forgotten something so important!

"Mind if I enjoy them with you?" Minato asked.

"Not at all," Sakura responded having a brief moment of deja vu.

Minato and Sakura had been walking around the town for a little while when they saw Kakashi.

"Kakashi!" Minato called out to his student expecting a response or greeting. What he got was Kakashi stopping and running off in the opposite direction. Minato laughed lightly and shook his head.

"Why do you put up with that?" Sakura asked.

"Because that's how he's coping with loss right now," Minato explained. "He's hurt, so he's taking it out on others."

"But that isn't fair to you and Fugaku," Sakura protested.

"You're right, it's not," Minato agreed. "I don't believe it's my job to confront him though." He looked at Sakura with a weird twinkle in his eyes. Almost as if he was saying, "You're his student, you do it."

"But if not his sensei, then who?" Sakura asked.

"Well, maybe someone he's been on a team with for a while," Minato suggested. "Ah, there's Kushina, I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura!"

With that Minato left Sakura with the feeling that he hadn't been talking about Rin. What was she supposed to do? Tell him everything?

Sakura froze and her eyes widened. Why couldn't she tell him the truth? It was such an easy solution! He would either believe her or he would think she was insane... Was she willing to take the risk just to be able to talk to her sensei?

Yes.

Sakura bolted towards where Kakashi had run off to. She spotted him and started running through what she was going to say...

...Until she bumped itno a semi-familiar face.

"We meet again," Daisuke laughed. Two grocery bags were held in his hands.

"We do indeed," Sakura smiled. What was it about this guy that made her so forgetful? She couldn't remember what she had been about to do.

"Where are you headed?" Daisuke asked.

"No where in particular," Sakura found herself saying though she knew that wasn't true. she _had_ been headed somewhere!

She caught sight of Kakashi and something inde her seemed to scream at her. Then it hit her, the reason she couldn't remember Daisuke after he had left, the reason she couldn't seem to remember what she had been doing, and why Minato didn't know him.

She found the answer bubbling to her lips as she said, "You're not real."

"Excuse me?" Daisuke asked.

"You aren't real," Sakura sid confidently.

"You feeling okay?" Daisuke asked and all at once she felt her clarity of the situation slipping. Her resolve was leaving.

She put her hands together and whipered, "Kai."

He didn't leave. She hadn't tried hard enough. What was holding her back?

"Sakura?" he asked concerned.

The way he said her name was so familiar, but she couldn't let it get to her. He was just a distractiong from her mission.

She foucused her chakra and shouted, "Kai!" and all at once Daisuke disappeared.

She felt as if some weight had been lifted from her shoulders but at the same time like she had just lost her bestfriend. But who was it he had reminded her of? She shook the thought away and looked around for Kakashi.

She had more important things to do.

**Talk about a filler chapter. I apologize… I did like the idea of Sakura having some sort of hindrance, though. I'm trying not to rush this first part of the story (have I said too much?) but I find that the second part is more interesting for me to write.**

**Not sure when I'll be updating again, but for now you can contemplate on whom Daisuke reminded Sakura of and of how bad my punctuation is… :)*insert awkward smile here***


	5. Familiar Voices in the Distance

**Someone asked why this was labeled as humor. This is a good question. Originally this story was supposed to have more humor than it has thus far. I shall change it soon!**

**Also, this is labled Kakashi H. and Sakura H. because they are the main characters NOT the pairing.**

**Familiar Voices in the Distance**

"Kakashi!" Sakura yelled easily finding him walking down an alley.

Kakashi turned towards her, and his face visibly darkened.

"What do you wa-"

"Why won't you come train with Fugaku and Minato?" Sakura found herself asking. "I understand why you don't want to train with me, but why them?"

"I don't need to explain myself to a stranger that sticks her nose in other people's business," Kakashi fired at her.

Sakura flinched slightly at how similair his words were to Sasuke's before he left. "It's not me your hurting with your lack of cooperation!" Sakura lied, it did hurt her a lot. "It's your sensei. I understand the importance of a relationship with your sensei; it's not something to be taken as lightly as you are right now."

"Like I said, I don't need to explain myself to a stranger that sticks her nose in other people's business," Kakashi droned again.

"Is that all you can say?" Sakura yelled at him getting frustrated. "That's the classic excuse of a thirteen year old _child_," Sakura retorted. "That's all you are, right? Because none of your actions have displayed anything but the acts of a rebellious, immature brat."

"_Excuse me_?" Kakashi asked clearly offended. "Rebellious, immature brat? I'll have you know I am a Jonin-"

"Jonin is only a rank," Sakura said easily. She had expected his retort, "it means absolutely nothing when referring to someone's level of maturity or how they treat their friends."

She had hit a sore spot and she felt little remorse as his eye showed the slightest bit of sadness before hiding it away and replacing it with anger.

"You know _nothing _about me!" Kakashi yelled.

Sakura snorted. "Oh, don't I?"

"You're nothing but a liar and a-"

"Kakashi Hatake: Born September 15th. Age: thirteen. Blood type: O. Your sensei is Minato Namikaze and your teammate's names were/are Obito Uchiha and Rin."

"You're only stating obvious facts!" Kakashi interrupted with a smug look on his face.

Sakura held her hand up to silence him. "Obito died on your last mission and you blame yourself because he told you to go back for Rin, and you didn't listen. Your father was known as the White Fang of the Leaf. You lost your eye in your previous mission and were given the Sharingan by your teammate Obito before he died as his Jonin gift to you."

"How do you know-" Kakashi tried to interrupt.

"You yourself told me the story," Sakura answered.

Kakashi narrowed his eye suspiciously at her. "I have told no one that."

"You're right, you haven't. Yet."

"What are you saying?" Kakashi was getting frustrated now.

Sakura had made her decision. There was no going back now."In about... fourteen years or so you're going to be assigned to a Genin squad. It will contain an orphaned jinchuuriki, a boy that has lost his whole clan at the hands of his brother, and a girl with nothing unusual in her life but her pink hair." Sakura paused waiting for a reaction from Kakashi. He only stared wide eyed. "The boy with the murdered family will make a bad decision and leave Konoha to follow Orochimaru for the power to defeat his brother. The jinchuuriki will train with Jiraiya and the girl with the fifth Hokage. After a lot of confusion, betrayal, hatred, and lies these three students of yours will turn eighteen and the girl will be told that someone has changed the past and that she has to fix it."

She waited for him to figure out she was the girl but he stayed in stunned silence.

"She'll be sent back to the past only to find that she has no idea how to make the change in the past happen, and all she wants is the help from her sensei who is currently acting like a moron!"

Kakashi's eye widened even more. He had figured it out. "So, you're the pink-haired girl?" He was skeptical she could tell.

"Know anyone else with pink hair?" Sakura asked.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Don't know. I have no way to prove it. I'm relying entirely on what you choose to believe, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi was taken aback by her calling him Kakashi-sensei but it seemed so natural to her, and it would explain why she was so weird around him and everyone else for that matter. Claiming that he would be her sensei and that an entire clan would be killed, except for one, were bold statements. He thought all of this over for a few seconds then replied, "I believe you."

Sakura grinned at him.

"Promise me one thing," Kakashi said.

"Sure," Sakura replied.

"Don't call me Kakashi-sensei again.

* * *

><p>After that Kakashi had started accepting Sakura's weirdness around him and other people. When Kakashi had shown up with her at training one day Minato had glanced at Fugaku then Sakura and gave a small smile.<p>

"Right, Fugaku," Minato started. "It looks like starting today you have a new student."

Fugaku nodded looking smug, but Sakura could tell that he was happy Kakashi had finally decided to train with him. "Very well," Fugaku sighed. "Come over here Kakashi and we will begin."

Kakashi nodded, looked at Sakura, smiled, and ran to Fugaku's side.

"Well Sakura," Minato said turning to her. "I guess my advice was taken."

Sakura looked at Minato confused. "But Rin didn't convince Kakashi, I did..." He had told her "teammate" not "random-stranger-he-distrusted."

Minato shrugged. "I never said she did."

Sakura tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brows inviting Minato to explain himself.

"Looks like we'll be training one on one for a little while," Minato said grinning and ignoring her unsaid invitation.

Sakura grumbled under her breath but paid attention to his next words.

"Let's begin by running around the village at a steady pace five times, shall we?"

* * *

><p>Sakura sat in the Uchiha's entrance putting on her ninja sandals and pondering some sort of plan of action when Kakashi came up to walk with her to go train. Sakura hardly registered the fact that he had come inside when he sat next to her and snapped his fingers in front of her face.<p>

"Gah!" Sakura exclaimed nearly falling of the little step she was sitting on. "Yeah, yes what?"

"Just telling you I was here," Kakashi said reclining.

"A simple, 'Hey Sakura, I'm here' would have sufficed," Sakura grumbled.

"That would have rudely interrupted the thoughts you were so obviously thinking," Kakashi responded closing his eye.

"Yeah, because snapping your fingers to inches in front of someone's face is _so _much better," Sakura grumbled. "I've always wondered..."

Kakashi opened his eye a fraction to look at her.

"...Why do you always wear your headband in front of your Sharingan?" Sakura asked completely changing the subject.

Kakashi sat up and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just didn't want people to ask question about how I got it and everything so I hid it under my headband just wanting people to think I had lost my eye during the mission."

"But you don't care if they know now, do you?" Sakura asked finishing with her sandals and standing up.

Kakashi shrugged again. "People would still ask. Plus, I've gotten used to it by now and it makes me look pretty cool ne?"

Sakura snorted. "Well at least you're finally getting that sense of humor I know you by."

"Come on," Kakashi said standing up. "Uchiha-sama is likely to kill us if we're late again." He shot Sakura an accusing look.

"Excuse me?" Sakura said in fake offense. "But it was _you _who made us late last time! Not me!"

"Mhmm, yeah, sure," Kakashi said walking away. "I'm not the one that had to take a shower before training when I was only going to get dirty anyway."

"Oh?" Sakura said stomping a few steps in front of Kakashi. "_I'm _not the one that poured some sort of gluey substance on myself which prevented me from moving comfortably!"

"Excuses excuses," Kakashi said catching up with her. Sakura only shook her head and laughed quietly. She was sure that if she saw Kakashi's face he would be smiling privately to himself.

* * *

><p>It had been two weeks since Sakura had gotten Kakashi to start training with them and she still hadn't done anything in regards to getting the Uchiha's less isolated. She had shared with Kakashi what she thought it was she was to change and he had drawn a blank as to what they should do as well. She felt that she was running out of time and needed to act in some way!<p>

Kakashi nudged her to get her attention away from her thoughts and on him as they were walking towards the training grounds.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"I was thinking," Kakashi started, "what if we somehow convinced the third into a not-so-early retirement? Since you know who the next Hokage will be we can drop hints that he should give the Uchihas more freedom and that they can live where they want in the village."

"That's a good idea," Sakura smiled. It was so simple! Why had she not thought of that before?

"It won't be easy. You're from a foreign village and I'm only thirteen. The third isn't going to take our advice and go into retirement. We'll need someone else that the third trusts, but if we use the future Hokage he may see it as him trying to usurp his power..."

"I never saw the third as the paranoid type," Sakura interrupted.

"His old and senile, there's no telling what he'll think." Sakura would have laughed but Kakashi was being dead serious.

"The other problem is going to be convincing the future Hokage about giving the Uchihas more freedom whe-"

"Oh, you'll find that convincing the fourth Hokage of that isn't going to be too hard." Sakura laughed.

"Why?" Kakashi asked.

"We see him practically everyday," Sakura grinned.

Kakashi paused in his walking. "...Minato-sensei?"

"Is it really that hard to believe?" Sakura asked with a slight laugh.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, it's obvious. I should have guessed it before."

"And as to who should tell the third he's getting a little too old for his job, I have someone in mind." Sakura smiled secretively.

Sakura entered the Uchiha's house exhausted for possibly the fourteenth day in a row. Training with some of the best ninja in the village was quite a strenuous activity. She also had to be on her guard because of Kakashi. He had almost slipped something about Minato being the next Hokage _five times._ Every time Sakura would hit him upside the head, tell him don't be rude, and got Minato to run some laps around the village. Running around the village twenty-five extra times added to her emotional and physical strain.

She ate the dinner that Mikoto had left her and went directly to her bedroom and took a shower in the guest bathroom. She watched her feet as dirt, sweat, and grass swirled around them in the water and then down the drain. She quickly bathed herself and jumped out of the shower. Grabbing a towel she dried herself off and put on her pajamas. She plopped down on her bed and found it quite easy to fall asleep.

She couldn't remember a time when she had had stranger dreams.

She saw herself on a swing with two people standing on either side of her on the swing. She heard herself shouting, "Higher! Higher!" while a boy laughed behind her in a voice unfamiliar to her.

Then she was looking up at the stars while fireworks boomed in the night sky. A little yelp sounded next to her and she placed her hands on the child's ears. "It's okay, it's just a noise."

She was sitting at a table eating with people that, in her dream, had no faces while laughing in pure joy at a comment made by the man at the head of the table.

She was at a wedding, but whom's she couldn't tell. She continuously glanced at someone in the wedding party nervously.

Then she heard a laugh seemingly echoing through the darkness-

Sakura shot up breathing heavily in her bed. Never had she had such vivid dreams. They were like memories that she knew had never happened but they seemed so _real._

"_That laugh,_" Sakura thought to herself. She had heard the phrase a million times though never as a laugh. However, it was undeniable that it had been used out of complete happiness and for a reason she couldn't explain she knew it had happened and not just in her head.

The laugh echoed through her head.

"_Hn._"

**Dun dun duuuuuun. My sad attempt at a cliff-hanger when there are only smallish hills at the current moment. But, who is that Sakura thought of for convincing the third into retirement? Hmmmm?**

**Please leave reviews! They make me feel good and want to write more! It saddens me that I haven't gotten many reviews so far... Sigh...**


	6. The Comfort of a Father

**A quick thanks to all of my previous reviewers that have encourage me to keep writing well for them :)**

**KawaiiGrape**

**nequam-tenshi**

**some dude**

**Niixxy**

**DefineNightmare**

**minniemousemom**

**Laurie**

**Toushirou-chan**

**and all of the people that have favorited or followed my storyy!**

**You guys rock and have a Happy Valentine's Day or Single's Awareness Day for all of us bitter singles out there! Ha ha! Just kidding... I may be single but I am not bitter!**

**Once again, please pardon the typos because I fail with commas and semicolons.**

_The Comfort of a Father_

Sakura woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. She stretched out and got ready for the day. She was wearing a fitted tunic with close fitting pants and ninja sandals. She put her hair up in a messy ponytail and jumped down the stairs. She scrambled around looking for a piece of paper and a pencil to write down a quick note while she munched on a banana. Finding a pen on the counter and a piece of paper under several envelopes she wrote down a note for the Uchihas.

_Taking a day off to look for someone! Don't wait up!_

_-Sakura_

Placing the note in plain sight, Sakura quickly ran out the door ready to spend a whole day searching for the person that would convince the Hokage into retirement. She had found a picture of him and put it in her pocket in case someone didn't know whom she was talking about.

She started her search at the village gates and the ninja that were posted.

"Good morning!" Sakura greeted cheerily feeling in a bubbly mood that day.

"Good morning," the two guards greeted tiredly wishing that they hadn't had the midnight shift.

"Have you seen this ninja and if so, how long ago?" Sakura asked holding up a picture of him.

The first ninja, a man with straight, unnaturally white hair and dull gray yes, squinted at the picture. "Eh? Why would a nice girl like yourself be looking for him?"

"Business of my own," Sakura smiled back at him. "It's pretty important though."

The second ninja, his hair was purple with tints of gray and his eyes were an almost neon green, grabbed the picture and examined in closer as if it would help him remember the last time he saw the man. "It's been a couple of months at the least. We're new to guard duty so you may wanna come back at shift change and ask the other guys."

"Thank you for your help," Sakura said bowing. When Sakura turned she was greeted by a wave from a familiar face. Rin was smiling and rushing towards her, a backpack bouncing up and down on Rin's back as she ran.

"Sakura!" Rin greeted when she got closer.

"Good morning, Rin," Sakura smiled. "Where are you headed?"

"Escort mission," Rin shrugged indicating to the four people behind her. Sakura recognized Kurenai but not any of the others; though, she could pick out which one was being escorted by the pompous look on his face. "What are you up to?"

"I'm looking for him," Sakura said showing Rin the picture. "Seen him around recently?"

Rin thought for a moment and then shook her head, "Can't say that I have. You can see if my team has though!"

Sakura nodded and walked over to them with Rin. "Hey, I'm looking for him; have any of you seen him recently?"

Kurenai was the first to speak, "I saw him a couple of months back when he came to visit the Hokage."

"Do you know if he's coming again soon?" Sakura asked.

Kurenai shrugged, but a boy with three different shades of red emo style hair, judging from his appearance he was the team captain, answered her, "No one really knows when he's coming or going. He just kind of shows up."

"You could ask Saburo, he was on his old team," a younger boy with plain brown hair suggested.

"Thanks, do you have any clue where I could find him?" Sakura asked.

"Hm," the younger boy said closing his eyes in concentration. "Training ground five is usually a good place to look, but if he's not there he's usually at a library researching."

"One more thing," Sakura said.

"Shoot," the older boy said.

"What does he look like...?" Sakura asked sheepishly.

"You don't know what Saburo looks like? Were you raised under a-" the older boy started but was cut off. Sakura could tell she didn't like his attitude.

"Sakura's not from around here," Rin cut in. "He has black hair usually in a pony tail pinned to the top of his head with a head band. Most of the time he has hair hanging over his head band. He has pale skin and blue - almost black - colored eyes."

"Thank you," Sakura said bowing. "I won't take up anymore of your time." With that Sakura rushed off to training ground five, stopping and asking people if they had seen the man and if they hadn't she would ask if they had seen Saburo and received the same answer the young boy had given her. When Sakura reached training ground five she could clearly see that he was not there. She let out a quick sigh and started her way towards the library which was placed at the opposite end of the village. For a day off of training she sure was getting a lot of exercise, for once she was glad she had done all of that running with Minato; she could really tell a difference.

On her way to the library she continued to keep her eyes peeled for him and stopped to ask people about the two men and received the same answers. She finally reached the library only slightly out of breath and entered quietly.

"Excuse me,"she asked the librarian who was currently reading a book.

The librarian glanced up at Sakura, took in her sweaty and out of breath appearance, and went back to her book which Sakura observed to be _Pride and Prejudice_. "Can I help you?" The librarian half-heartedly asked not looking up from her book.

"Yes, I was wondering if you have seen a regular to the library named Saburo?" Sakura asked getting slightly frustrated with the librarian's unfriendly attitude.

"I haven't exactly been paying attention..." The librarian droned in her nasally voice. Sakura clenched her fists and her jaw in an attempt not to lash out at the lady.

"Do you know when he usually comes?" Sakura asked trying to be polite as humanly possible.

"Don't know. Don't care," the librarian said turning a page. Sakura couldn't take it and ripped the book from her grasp and threw it across the library.

"Listen lady, I just need to find where this Saburo guy is, and I want to get it over with just as much as you want me to stop asking questions. I have been running all over town looking for him and I am just about ready to hit something. If you don't want that something to be you I expect that you be a little more helpful or friendlier and you might not find yourself the object of my fist's desire," Sakura made a point to whisper her threats. She was in a library after all and it had nothing to do with how whispering threats made them a bit more... Threatening.

The librarian stared at Sakura wide-eyed with fear and was about to let out a squeak of fear when someone put their hand on Sakura's shoulder. She followed the hand to a man with his eyes closed and fitting Rin's description.

"I'm Saburo, who wants to know?" Saburo asked.

Sakura instantly perked up and turned to the man. "I am. My name is Sakura Ha- Kuran-"

"You sure about that?" Saburo interrupted.

"I recently got married and I'm getting used to the name," Sakura lied easily.

"No ring," Saburo pointed out. She cursed mentally at his perceptiveness.

"I'm a ninja, it gets caught on things. I find it easier just to not wear it on missions."

"So you're on a mission? Trying to assassinate me?"

Sakura let out a frustrated exhale. "No. I'm looking for this man," she held up the picture, "I need his help and I was told you could tell me where to find him."

Saburo shrugged. "Don't know. I wasn't his favorite; we kind of lost touch."

Sakura good mood deflated slightly. "Thanks anyway," she said sadly.

Saburo nodded and grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and went back to his chair.

Sakura shrugged. "_Might as well start asking people again."_

Sakura asked a few people who shrugged and went back to their books before she ventured back outside. She looked up at the sky when she was greeted with fresh air. The Konoha library had always been sort of musty. She gaged what time it was by the sun's placement in the sky. It was around noon and she decided she would take a lunch break. It was a short break that lasted ten minutes before she hit the streets again.

She had been looking for another three hours with no luck when she decided to just take a break and relax. She had been wondering around aimlessly looking for a place to stop when she found herself at her favorite red bridge. She rested her forearms on the railing of the red wood and stared out at the water. She had done this many times before and it would calm her down by stopping the jumbled thoughts invading her head.

She rested her head on her arms. She was getting really stressed. If she couldn't find him then- no. She wasn't going to think that. She _would _find him. She had to. Sakura lightly hit her head with her fists.

"Calm down," she told herself. "You can do this."

"Do what?" A familiar voice asked settling on the railing next to her. Sakura turned and saw Mikoto with Itachi right behind her.

"Just having some trouble finding someone," Sakura answered looking back out at the water.

"Maybe I know where this person is," Mikoto said as Itachi got in between her legs to look out at the water.

"Have you seen him recently or know when he'll be around?" Sakura asked.

"Hm, can't say I've seen him around recently or heard of when he plans to come again," Mikoto answered. "Sorry..."

"It's okay," Sakura sighed grabbing a rock and dropping it lightly into the water.

"Want to go to the park with Itachi and I?" Mikoto offered. "Maybe someone there will know where he is."

"Nah," Sakura said. "I'm just gonna hang out here."

"Okay," Mikoto said patting Sakura's shoulder in a motherly way. "See you later tonight."

"Bye," Sakura waved watching as Itachi reached his little hand up to his mother's and gripping her finger as she led him to the park.

Sakura pursed her lips and looked around to see if anyone near her. She didn't see anyone and smiled as she placed her foot onto the first layer of railing and climbed to sit on top of the rail.

"You've been found out," someone whispered from behind her while poking her.

At this moment Sakura wasn't too proud of the actions that followed involving her. Her eyes widened, she let out a squeak, and fell right into the shallow water bellow her.

The man started laughing, but tried to hide it as he ran around to help her up. "I'm sorry," he laughed, "I couldn't resist," more laughter. "You just looked like you were trying not to be seen doing that.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh too. She reached her hand out to grab the one the man offered her and froze. Her father was the man before her. She shook off her initial shock and took his hand.

"It's okay," Sakura said laughing at herself and squeezing out her clothes. "You didn't mean for me to overreact and fall into the river."

"I tried to catch you," he said taking off his jacket and handing it to her. Sakura declined it.

"I'm just a little wet. Nothing to be worried about."

"Okay," he said putting his jacket back on. "I'm Senri Haruno, nice to meet you..."

"Sakura Kuran," Sakura filled in for him. "Nice to meet you too."

"So, what were you doing sitting on the railing?" her father asked.

"Oh, just thinking," Sakura said proceeding to squeeze the water out of her hair.

"What about, if you don't mind my asking?" he asked.

"I'm trying to find someone," Sakura said. "Have you seen him?" Sakura held out the now slightly picture of the man without much hope of her father knowing where he was.

"Not recently, but I know someone who knows when his next visit is," Senri inputted. "I think he said it would be soon..." Senri looked up into the sky while trying to remember.

"Who is it? If it's Saburo, I already asked him and he wasn't any help..." Sakura said.

Her father laughed and she felt slightly comforted. Her father's laugh always comforted her. The familiar warmth of her home filled her. "No, not Saburo. That guy is anti-social and hates the world."

"I know the type," Sakura said thinking of a certain spiky, raven-haired teammate of her's.

"Don't count on him for anything but book knowledge and a few harsh words about his old team."

"He did manage to fit something along those lines in when I asked where he was," Sakura laughed.

"If you want to find out the definite time he's coming back as Minato Namikaze. He's usually training with Fugaku Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, and a visitor from Suna these days."

Sakura couldn't believe she hadn't thought to ask Minato first! How could she be so stupid?

She beamed at Senri and thanked him excitedly while resisting the urge to hug him.

"No problem," Senri said before reaching out his hand to ruffle Sakura's damp hair - an action he had performed many times when she was a child but only to her. He gave a short wave and walked away.

Sakura smiled at his back. Her father really never did fail her.

**Who is Sakura looking for! It may be obvious to you guys but I wanted a little bit of a mystery in the story.**

**Saburo is a loser :)**


	7. I'm Sorry What!

**Big thanks to Vbabeofhearts for not only reviewing but favoriting and putting my story on their story alert!**

**Thanks to ellessia for adding me to their story alert!**

**Thanks to Kioko1010 for putting me on their favorite stories list!**

**All of these things make me feel so honored and happy, you have no idea :)**

**I'm Sorry... What!**

Sakura sprinted towards the training grounds in a rush to get information from Minato. People stared at her aghast taking in her appearance; she had been running around all day, fell into a river, and slipped on a patch of mud. She looked pretty grungy, but she didn't particularly care.

It felt like it was taking hours to get to the training grounds because of the rush she was in. Excitement was bubbling up inside of her; she was so close to the end of this mission she could taste it.

She ran by a tree with a giant hole in it and a mound of acorns. Some squirrel was serious about his preparations for the winter... The wind howled in the trees ominously and she stopped, feeling slightly light-headed for a brief moment. Sakura shrugged and started zigzagging around the trees that surrounded the training ground and soon burst through into the clearing.

They weren't there.

Sakura let out a groan of frustration and some not too pleasant words. Where in the world could they have gone? The one time she takes a day off from training is the one time they go somewhere else! She couldn't help but punch the tree she was standing next to her. It inevitably fell over knocking another tree over and it knocked another one over and so on.

She decided that maybe they had decided to go to another one of the training grounds so she continued onward. In a few minutes she had checked all the training grounds and found all of them to be empty. This wouldn't seem too strange to a regular person, but to a ninja it was very out of place.

There should have been at least _one _group of ninjas training at the training grounds, but she didn't see anyone. Something was off. Sakura sighed and walked out of the training grounds and made her way slowly through the forest this time and keeping her senses alert. An eerie breeze blew from behind her and Sakura felt goosebumps form on her skin. Something wasn't right... A snap of twig sounded behind her.

She whipped her head around quickly and saw nothing. Not even a squirrel was to be seen. Sakura started sprinting out of the forest and found herself back in the town. She expected relief to wash over her.

It didn't.

Not a single person was found roaming the streets. The shops were closed and all the lights were turned off at all of the houses. It was only 4:30, no one could be in bed at this time!

"Hello?" Sakura called out hesitantly hoping for any sort of response.

She received none.

"Hello!" Sakura shouted this time. Another breeze swept past her and she quickly turned to see a hooded figure standing directly behind her. She let out a gasp and took quick steps away from the man. She tried very hard to see into his hood, but saw nothing.

"Who are you?" Sakura demanded her voice not betraying a hint of how frightened she was. "What did you do to Konoha?"

She saw the shoulders lift in a shrug while the head tilted to the side and his arms raised. It was a mocking sort of shrug.

Sakura threw a punch at the man and her hand went straight through his head and out the other side. The man tutted and disappeared. She felt a sharp pain on her back and felt the blood seep into her shirt. She rounded quickly on the man swinging her leg at him as she went.

"Give up the fight, girly," the man said as her foot went right through his abdomen. He grabbed her foot and threw her into a nearby stand. Sakura wiped the blood that leaked from the corner of her mouth and stood up again.

"So, you're the one that's changing everything?" Sakura asked spitting some blood out of the side of her mouth.

"I believe the correct wording would be _changed_," The man said calmly. "I've already won. You're fighting a lost battle."

"That's for me to decided," Sakura said changing her stance to that of defense, but the man just stayed where he was. He didn't seem to have any intent of attacking.

"_Fine then,"_ Sakura thought. She rushed towards him and did a series of quick jabs and kicks. All of them went straight through him. He aimed a punch for her face, but she was more prepared this time. If Tsunade had taught her anything, it was how to dodge. She moved out of the way of his punch quickly and easily. She punched at him and was surprised when she made contact. He flew a few yards away and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"_When did he have time to make a shadow clone?_" Sakura thought to herself. She didn't have time to dwell on the notion when he reappeared right next to her with lightning fast speed and hit her with a backhanded strike sending her flying into the wall of a building. Who was this guy? Sakura tried to stand and cursed under her breath when her leg gave out from under her.

She healed it as quickly as she could and jumped sidewise to avoid the volley of kunai headed towards her. Every kunai hit the wall and judging by where they landed, they would have hit every one of her vital areas.

Sakura turned her attention back on the man too late as he was suddenly next to her in the air driving his heel into her stomach and knocking the air right out of her as she landed roughly on the pavement.

This guy seemed almost invincible. Nothing she did had any effect on him. She calculated that he was only solid when attacking her and aimed her strikes for the right time so she could make contact, but even that didn't work. Who was he and why was he so strong? It was unnatural.

Sakura was hit by a series of rapid punches and fell to the ground feeling her consciousness slipping.

"Like I said. You've already lost. There is no hope for your pathetic village-"

Sakura smiled despite the fact that she felt like she was going to pass out. "You're Madara. I can tell because you're spitting the same stupid lines that Sasuke is."

"I assure you that I _will _make Konoha fall to its knees. I have already defeated you here. Your resistance is futile."

Sakura saw specks in her vision right before a boy flashed in out of no where and stood before her.

"_You're too much of a coward to even show your true face,"_ the boy growled at Madara.

The boy said something else but the roaring in her ears had started getting louder. He turned to her and she thought, for a moment, that she had seen the flash of something red. He was so blurry she couldn't make out anything about him.

"_Sakura,"_ his speech was spotted so she couldn't catch all of his words. His voice was muffled as if he was talking to her underwater/ "_...soon... shouldn't... yet... jutsu..."_

He placed his hands together and yelled, "_Kai!"_

* * *

><p>Regret.<p>

That's what everyone told him he should feel, but he found no inclination to feel it. He was proud of all that he had accomplished and hadn't looked back once to regret his decisions.

He may have, at one time, felt remorse for killing his brother after he had found out the truth, but he quickly threw that emotion and feeling on the subject away. As far as he was concerned no blame rested on his shoulders for what happened to his brother; the only one at fault was that wretched village, Konoha.

If given the chance to go back and change fighting his brother and killing him, he would still take his brother's life. It had uncovered the truth of the thing that had shown him his life's true meaning: Destroying Konoha.

Most importantly killing his brother had given him the power he had been craving for so long. No one stood a chance against his retribution! He had never felt more powerful than he was now. The power made him realize how weak he had been before, just an idiotic boy that at one time believed he needed friendship and love to accomplish his task, but now, there was not a single person capable of stopping the destruction he was about to create. Konoha would be nothing but a pile of dust and a memory when he was finished with it.

Very soon he would make them pay for what they had done to his family. There would be no more laughing and feigning innocence for their crimes! His brother would be proud of the vengeance he was about to bring upon them.

He only had to do one thing before destroying the village: Kill the ninja before him.

An easy enough task...

Naruto would not breathe after this day.

* * *

><p>Sakura woke up on the floor of the woods. She looked to her left and saw the tree with the acorns piled inside of it. Was the wind she had heard earlier the genjutsu taking hold of her...? She looked around for some sign that Madara was around and found none.<p>

Sakura stood up and brushed off her shorts before making her way to the clearing where the training grounds were. Sure enough, Kakashi, Minato, and, surprisingly enough, Gai were all training. Kakashi spotted her first during his spar with Gai and stopped to wave at her. He was greeted with a fist in the gut by Gai who then went on some spiel about the power of youth.

"Concentrate!" Minato yelled at Kakashi. He turned to see what had distracted Kakashi and raised his eyebrows when he saw Sakura. He motioned her over and Sakura obeyed trying to wipe the weird genjutsu incident from her head. It was no surprise to her that Madara had tried to detain her, but who had the boy been that infiltrated the genjutsu?

"Where's Fugaku?" Sakura asked.

"He's taking the day off like we thought you were," Minato said in response when Sakura stood next to him.

"Well I was taking the day off because I was looking for someone and the trail led me back here," Sakura said bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Who might you be looking for?" Minato asked and then shouted form instructions to Kakashi and Gai. Sakura took note of the fight. Gai was losing... Badly...

"I'm looking for your old sensei," Sakura said.

"Jiraiya?" Minato asked. "Whatever for?"

"I need his help with something in regards to the village," Sakura said.

"Anything I could help with?" Minato asked.

"No, it's only something he can do," Sakura responded. "So, any idea when he's coming to visit next?"

Minato glanced at his watch. "He's supposed to be here at around five, so if you hurry you can catch him at the entrance to the village."

Sakura beamed. "Thank you so much!" Sakura immediately started running to the entrance of the village. She was certain luck was in her favor when right as she got there a certain white-haired shinobi was entering the village gates. She wasted no time in running up to him.

"Jiraiya-sama," she said bowing.

Jiraiya's gaze immediately dropped to her feet and up to her face pausing in certain areas a little too long for her liking. Same old Jiraiya.

"Well this is something I've never seen before," Jiraiya said putting his hand to his chin in thought while his eyes sparkled evilly. "A welcoming committee just for me. A beautiful young lady no less, and well-"

"Mention something provocative to me and I'll punch you upside the head, sannin or not," Sakura said smiling pleasantly at him.

"Feisty, I like that in a-"

Jiraiya's head was met by Sakura's fist.

"My name is Sakura and I am not here as a welcoming committee," she began to explain. "I need your help."

"Well then, how can I help? I'm always willing to assist a pretty young lady," Jiraiya smiled wiggling his eyebrows.

"It's about this village's safety."

Jiraiya may have been a moron nine times out of ten, but when it came to his village's safety he was completely serious. His eyebrows furrowed and he zoned in on her hitai-ate. "I can see you're not from Konoha, so what do you know?" Jiraiya questioned.

Sakura let the action slide and continued on. "I'm from Suna, but I love Konoha."

"A spy?" Jiraiya asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I have just been visiting an old friend's family and I have come to love it here."

"So what could a member of Suna possibly want from me? Are you planning on giving us information on Suna? That's the Hokage's area, not mine."

"I want peace between Konoha and Suna, not a war," Sakura explained. "Having observed Konoha I have realized that there is an area here that could be taken advantage of, if it hasn't been already."

"Oh? And what's that?" Jiraiya asked.

Sakura took a large intake of breath before responding. She looked him squarely in the eye trying not to show weakness. "Your Hokage."

"Our Hokage?" Jiraiya asked narrowing his eyes.

"He's too old," Sakura said.

"And Onoki from Iwagakure isn't?" Jiraiya retorted.

"He is quite old as well, but," Sakura searched for the right words, "Konoha's elders are corrupted and the Third's resolve has gotten weaker as he has gotten older."

"I won't deny that the elders are indeed corrupt," Jiraiya responded his face giving nothing away. Had she done it?

"It's for the best interest of Konoha if you start fresh. Especially since a certain clan's relationship with the higher-ups has become very... Strained..." Sakura added.

"I'll try-"

Several things happened at once. Kakashi came running up to Sakura telling her that he had talked to Minato about the issue, Jiraiya smiled at Sakura in a way that told her he would try to fulfill her request, and the ground beneath her feet disappeared. She stayed floating for a little while as she looked at the doom beneath her. She looked to Kakashi and Jiraiya who were frozen in place without seeing anything that had happened.

Sakura felt her stomach drop as she began tumbling down the hole beneath her feet.

* * *

><p>Sakura looked around; she was suddenly in a field of flowers with a big cherry blossom tree in the middle. There were thousands upon thousands of wild flowers from deep reds to bright lavender and sky blue. The sky was absolutely beautiful! She had never seen a brighter or deeper blue. The sun shown brightly, but the temperature stayed cool. Despite it being the daytime sky, stars dotted the sky with the occasional flying star zooming past. Perfectly formed rainbows wove their way around the stars and clouds. Surrounding the base of the cherry blossom tree was soft, pillow-like moss, and located at the base of the cherry blossom tree was a boy with black hair. He seemed to be peacefully sleeping and enjoying the beautiful weather. Sakura tried to put an age with him, but no matter what age she tacked onto him he always seemed too old or too young for it. It was quite puzzling.<p>

"What's going on? Where am I?" Sakura asked looking around the field that had appeared from no where and stomping the ground in frustration causing several butterflies of every color to fly away from their flowers.

"_Your mission has been tampered with," _The boy said suddenly awake. Sakura could tell with just one glance that he was blind in his left eye. _"Because of this tampering your mission has not even begun yet."_

**Hee hee. My first somewhat-close-to a cliffhanger :) I liked the idea of having a twist in there. It was originally not supposed to have a twist but Toushirou-chan, without realizing it, gave me an idea in their comment.**

**I hope you guys liked the brief flash to Sasuke and his twisted outlook on life :) It may seem a bit random, but I'm hoping after adding another little thing later on in the story it will sort of fit. Plus, I just liked the idea of writing a different perspective on the story. Sue me! :)**

**Rate and review because your comments make me feel like I am actually an okay writer!**


	8. The Horrible Day That Just Got Worse

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Let's be honest if anyone other than Masashi Kimomoto owned it it would not be nearly as genius. Masashi is the man!**

_**The Horrible Day That Just Got Worse**_**  
><strong>

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked. She was more than just a little upset with this news She had been uprooted from her life and sent to the past. She just wanted to go back home, and just when she was thinking she was going to be able to this boy was telling her that something had gone wrong. "I completed the mission. Jiraiya convinced the Hokage into retirement and Minato fixed the bonds between Konoha and the Uchiha! That's why I was taken here!"

_"It is true that all of those things happened, but you were supposed to be sent to a time two years from now. Your adversary has tampered with things and caused you to be sent back two years too soon." The boy explained._

"So you're saying that everything I just did was pointless?" Sakura fumed. She wanted desperately to punch something or to pull her hair out! "Gee, thanks!"

The boy shook his head. _"No, not pointless. You prevented the Uchiha from having bitterness towards the Hokage, but because of an event that will happen in the future all your efforts will be made futile. Something will _happen in the future that will make the Uchiha, in a sense, blow up with anger."__

"Why didn't you just zap me forward two years when you first saw my mission was tampered with?"

_"He prevented us from doing so, and he let his guard down for the first time when he put you under that genjutsu."_

"So what's stopping you from sending me to the correct time now?" Sakura asked.

"_We can only send you forwards once. You can either use it to go forward two years and then wait eighteen years until you're back to your own time or you can wait two years and go forward eighteen. Wait two years or eighteen. Your choice," The boy shrugged._

"They both sound pretty bad," Sakura admitted. "I guess I'll wait two years; it's an obvious choice."

The boy smiled.

"So, since I'm going to be stuck here for two years, can I at least know your name?" Sakura asked.

The boy shook his head. "_Time flows differently here than it does in your world."_

"What?"Sakura asked. "How does that have anything to do with me knowing your name?"

"_It doesn't," the boy answered simply, "_but I felt you would want to know that two years have passed while we've been having this conversation."__

"What?" Sakura asked again.

"_Like I said, time flows differently here than it does in your world."_

_"So I can go back now?" Sakura asked._

The boy nodded.

"Can you tell me what I am supposed to change this time?" Sakura asked. The world was beginning to slowly fade into blackness along with the boy.

The boy shook his head. _"I cannot interfere that much."_

"Great," Sakura sighed running a hand through her hair.

"_You should know two things though," The boy said holding up two fingers as he became completely transparent. _"The event happens in three days from when you are sent back; if you do not figure it out before then, you have failed."__

"No pressure, right?" Sakura mumbled to herself.

"_Second, you will find that things have changed since you left," the boy said as he completely disappeared. His next words were just noises in the wind_. "It's not going to be easy this time."__

"It wasn't easy last time," Sakura smirked.

"_Are you ready?"_

Sakura nodded and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she found that she was back at the entrance of Konoha. There were only little changes to the village. The leaves were no longer green and alive, they had turned warmer, more vibrant, and crispier. The air had grown cooler and the arch over the entrance was shimmering from a new coat of paint.

The two people watching the entrance had aged a very little and they didn't seem two surprised at the sudden appearance of a girl with pink hair.

Sakura took a deep breath and began sprinting into the town her mind going at a million miles per hour. First she had to find Kakashi, she would need him on her side again. Then she would have to find a place to stay - the Uchihas would probably let her stay with them again. Then she would have to figure out what in the world was going to happen in three days.

Her first agenda didn't take long to complete as she spotted the crazy silver hair she knew so well.

"Kakashi!" Sakura shouted in greeting to Kakashi had his back turned. He turned towards her and at first there was no recognition on his face, but in a few moments Kakashi's only visible eye widened in shock.

"Sakura," Kakashi said surprised, "what are you doing here?"

"Good to see you too," Sakura greeted in what was meant in a light-hearted way, but was said stiffly revealing the hurry she was in.

He grabbed Sakura's wrist and dragged her into a deserted alleyway.

"Sakura, what the heck are you doing here?" Kakashi asked exasperatedly. "Oh, gosh, look at how pink your hair is..." He put his head in his hands. Sakura tilted her head in confusion as this but answered anyway.

"Listen, Kakashi, apparently my mission was tampered with and I was sent back two years too soon so now I'm back and I only have three days to figure out what I have to change otherwise everything will end up being crappy and suckish like it was before."

Kakashi took this in while his head was still in his hands. "But your hair is still pink Sakura..."

"Yeah, so?" Sakura asked confused. "I would think you should know this by now."

"Oh man," Kakashi moaned. "Everyone had forgotten you and I admit that I had started to, but this i_s not good."_

Sakura pulled his hands off of his face. "_What is wrong?"_

"Sakura," Kakashi started, "how many people do you know with pink hair named Sakura?"

"Just myself wh-" Sakura stopped herself mid-sentence realizing what Kakashi was saying. "Oh my gosh, I've been born haven't I?"

"Yup," Kakashi lamented. "And the first thing anyone ever notices about you is your pink hair.

"Crap," Sakura said running her hand through her hair. "He said things would get harder..."

"Who did?" Kakashi asked.

"Nevermind that," Sakura said waving her hand. She started hitting her fists on her head in frustration. "Think, Sakura, think..."

Kakashi lazily kicked a stone on the ground as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I've got it!" Sakura exclaimed. "Okay, you go to the store and get black hair dye and I'll go to your house. When you come back I'll dye my hair and then go stay at the Uchiha's if they'll let me..."

"Why don't you just stay at my place?" Kakashi asked.

"Kakashi, my life is already difficult, I don't need rumors starting about me." Sakura explained.

"You make a good point. You wouldn't have to live with it, I would..." Kakashi said stretching. "You may not want to stay at the Uchiha's. Things are pretty noisy these-"

"Nevermind that," Sakura said. "Go ahead to the store; I'm going to sneak over to your place."

"Okay," Kakashi yawned.

"And Kakashi," Sakura called as Kakashi began walking away.

"Yeah?"

"Please be quick."

* * *

><p>Sakura snuck into Kakashi's apartment completely undetected by going through the window. She tried to sit on Kakashi's couch but found she couldn't sit still and immediately stood up again. She ran a hand through her hair and took deep breaths.<p>

"Calm down, Sakura. You can figure this out_." _Sakura repeated to herself a few times.

After a few minutes of pacing and Kakashi appeared in the doorway with a bottle of hair dye. Sakura quickly snatched the hair dye and went into the bathroom. Kakashi followed after grabbing a towel.

"Why not just use a transformation jutsu?" Kakashi asked sitting on the side of the tub.

"I would have to maintain it with chakra the whole time," Sakura explained looking at the directions on the bottle. "Even though it's a very small amount of chakra I want to be prepared; my adversary isn't the easiest ninja to take down."

"You know who your adversary is?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes," Sakura said popping open the bottle.

"Who?"

"I'll tell you later."

Sakura began quickly applying the hair dye while Kakashi sat back reading a book. "You should really calm down a bit before you go to the Uchiha's..."

Sakura sighed at his comment, put the bottle down, and began washing her hands. "I know... I don't remember a time I've ever been this stressed."

"It'll be okay."

"You don't know that. Not only does the entire village's fate rest on my shoulders but maybe even the world, Kakashi."

"You're psyching yourself out."

"I know it's just-" Sakura stopped when she noticed the book for the first time. "What are you reading?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Just something Jiraiya-sama gave me after you left."

Sakura hit her forehead with her hand. "That man..."

"How long do you have to have that stuff in?" Kakashi asked.

"Five minutes," Sakura answered. "It's a brand for ninjas so the wait time isn't long."

Kakashi nodded and turned a page.

Sakura turned the faucet on and began washing the dye out. After she was finished she held her hand out for the towel Kakashi had. He handed it to her without looking up from his book. Sakura wrapped the towel securely around her newly colored hair and began rubbing it vigorously.

"Can I have a brush and a blow-dryer?" Sakura asked looking towards Kakashi.

"I can give you a brush but not a blow-dryer."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Oh come one, don't tell me that your hair sticks up like that naturally."

Kakashi looked aghast for a moment or two, but then gave in and extracted a blow-dryer from the cabinet under the sink. She removed the towel from her hair and gasped at the mirror.

Her hair wasn't black.

"Kakashi..." Sakura said. "I told you to get black hair dye..."

Kakashi looked up nonchalantly and shrugged. She was getting tired of his shrugs. "I thought that hair color was cooler."

"My hair is _green _Kakashi_!" _Sakura yelled._ "_What is cool about green hair?" She sighed after Kakashi didn't respond and turned the blow-dryer on. "At least it's a forest green and not neon..." Sakura reassured herself.

After her hair was dried and her hands were removed of any trace of green, Sakura and Kakashi started heading over to the Uchiha complex. Sakura was about to take a turn to the right that would take them to the Uchiha's but Kakashi stopped her.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi asked.

"To the Uchiha complex," Sakura answered still a bit miffed about the green hair thing.

"They don't live there anymore," Kakashi answered.

"What?"

"They were given more freedom after the Fourth was elected. Some Uchihas stayed at the complex but the ones you're looking for live in the town now." Kakashi said.

"Oh," Sakura said dumbly and began following Kakashi. In a few short minutes they had arrived at the front door of a house that wasn't too far away from her's.

"Good thing we dyed my hair," Sakura thought out loud.

Kakashi looked at her in a way that said, "go on."

"I live right over there," Sakura said pointing.

Kakashi nodded and proceeded to knock on the door.

Itachi answered it, greeted Kakashi warmly, and looked at Sakura in a confused way.

"Where are your parents?" Kakashi asked.

"Dad's at work and Mom's in the bedroom," Itachi explained. "She'll be out in a bit."

Kakashi said his thanks and walked in with Sakura right behind him. She couldn't help but think that Itachi was staring at her green hair.

Mikoto walked at a few second later with something in her hands. "Sorry I was just chan-" Mikoto took sight of Sakura and a look of recognition dawned on her face replaced quickly by a beaming smile. "Sakura! My goodness it's been too long!"

Sakura barely took in what Mikoto had said as she was staring at what was in her hands. Not a what, a _who._

The boy's words replayed in Sakura's mind,_ "_you will find that things have changed since you left. It's not going to be easy this time  
><em>_

Laying securely in his mother's arms was none other than Sasuke

**Anyone ever think of a fanfic for a fanfic? Because I have, but I would never write something like that. I feel it would be somewhat insulting to the person's fanfic.**

**That aside, you should check out Look Underneath by Sakura's Unicorn because it's awesome!**

**R&R!**


	9. The Plan

The Plan

She supposed she should've seen thus coming; Kakashi had told her that things were pretty noisy at the Uchihas. She had just been too stressed to really pay attention to what he had been saying. He was born in July and it was October for goodness' sake!

"You okay?" Mikoto asked peering at Sakura.

Sakura blinked her eyes a few times and realized that she probably was acting strange. She took no time at all in plastering on a fake smile and nodding. Kakashi observed her weird behavior from the corner of his eye and made a note to ask her about it later.

"It's been so long!" Mikoto exclaimed. "How have you been? What have you been up to?"

"Oh, I've been doing good, a little stressed, but good. I haven't really been up to much..." Sakura replied honestly.

"Mm, how are things going with that boy you told me about so long ago?" Mikoto asked her curiosity getting the better of her.

Sakura unintentionally glanced at Sasuke, an action not missed by Kakashi, and looked at Mikoto shaking her head, "I haven't seen or heard about him in the last few years..."

Mikoto had followed Sakura's gaze and berated herself. "Oh, I'm sorry, this is my new son, Sasuke." Mikoto gazed at him proudly as she introduced him. "Sasuke, this is Sakura. Wave hello." Mikoto grabbed Sasuke's tiny hand in her's and waved it at Sakura.

Sakura smiled sadly and held back the painful thing that was lodging itself in her chest and throat. "Hey Sasuke, it's nice to meet you."

Mikoto smiled at Sakura. "So, are you staying here while you visit?"

"I was actually going to ask you if I could," Sakura laughed. "Sorry for the late notice; I must be troubling you especially since you're still getting used to Sasuke."

"Oh, nonsense, it's no trouble at all. I'll just go and prepare the guest bedroom for you. Itachi, can you watch Sasuke?"

Itachi nodded and followed his mother as she placed Sasuke on a blanket on the floor.

"I'm going to enjoy this beautiful day for a bit," Sakura smiled. Her heart was clenching painfully as she rushed out of the house. Kakashi gave Sasuke and Itachi a quick glance before following Sakura out.

"What was that about?" Kakashi asked sitting next to Sakura on the Uchiha's porch.

"Nothing," Sakura lied. "Just stress getting the better of me."

Kakashi hit her upside the head. "You're not a good liar whenever your sad, are you?"

Sakura hugged her stomach and shook her head.

"Do you want me to guess what it was or are you going to come out and tell me?" Kakashi asked.

"You can try to guess..." Sakura said while her voice cracked.

"Okay, this should be fun," Kakashi said as he popped his knuckles in preparation. "He bullied you when you were younger?"

Sakura shook her head no.

"He... Hurt your feelings by being an insensitive guy?"

"Sort of," Sakura tried to laugh as a rebel tear broke free.

"Wait... Is he the one on your team...?" Kakashi asked. He was scared of what her answer meant. The Uchihas would be the clan that was completely wiped out in one night by... Itachi?

Kakashi's stomach dropped when Sakura nodded.

"Oh man..." Kakashi said finding his relatively good mood spoiled by her nod. "Then that means that Itachi..." He couldn't even say it aloud. He got to his feet and looked towards the door a feeling of uneasiness worming into his stomach.

Sakura shook her head. "He isn't evil. He does it for a reason that is far too complicated for me to explain right now."

Sakura shot to her feet with a new sort of determination in her eyes. "We have to figure it out. I'm not going to let so many innocent lives die because of Madara's selfish ambitions."

Kakashi was shocked. "Wait, Madara? As in, _Uchiha_?"

"Yes," Sakura nodded acting as if this was something everyone should have known already.

"He's alive? But how?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura shrugged. "I don't even know. What I do know is that he is the reason everything goes wrong and I'm going to put a stop to him."

"Okay, so what exactly is it he does?" Kakashi asked.

"Uh... I'm not entirely sure..." Sakura replied disappointed in herself.

Kakashi sighed. "In the year of your birth were there any assassination attempts?"

"No," Sakura shook her head trying to think of what would happen in three days time.

"Murders? Arguments? Wars?"

"No, no, and no."

"Seemingly natural disasters? Attacks on the village?"

"N- Wait..." Sakura said holding a hand up. "What's today?"

"Tuesday."

"No, I mean as in the date."

"The seventh."

Sakura calculated in her head and... "Oh... Crap..."

"What?"

"We need to leave, _now,_" Sakura walked into the house, told Itachi she would be back later, and began heading towards the town.

"What's going on?" Kakashi asked sprinting after her.

"The nine-tailed fox attack," Sakura answered practically sprinting to the town.

"Huh?"

"In exactly three days the nine-tailed fox will attack the village because Madara controls him with the Sharingan."

"Sakura, that's impossible-"

"I know it may seem that way, but it happened on his birthday and he would be the next jinchuuriki, but not until after the fourth sacrificed himself. It makes sense though, the Uchihas were always suspected of the attack-"

"Sakura!" Kakashi interrupted her rant. "It's impossible because the Kyuubi already has a jinchuuriki host, the fourth's wife!"

That threw Sakura for a loop. "His... Wife?"

"Yeah."

Sakura thought for a little while thinking of possible scenarios.

"Is she... Pregnant by any chance?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, she is. How did you..."

"Is there a lot of preparation for it?"

"Yeah, but I'm not exactly sure why. It's nearly impossible to see her at the moment. The Elder's seem to afraid that something's going to happen."

"The seal becomes weakest during childbirth," Sakura said. "Do you know what they're naming their son?"

"How'd you know it was a son?" Kakashi asked then remembered she was from the future and answered. "Naruto."

Sakura found tears in her eyes. Naruto had had a family that had sacrificed _everything _for him.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing, we need to go faster." Sakura answered.

"Where exactly are we going that we need to go faster?"

"To Minato. We need to tell him everything. Ugh, I should have thought of this sooner!"

* * *

><p>Minato considered this to be a rather regular day. He woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast with Kushina, told her goodbye, and went to work. When he had arrived he had a mountain of paperwork on his desk and a line of people outside waiting for mission assignments, giving complaints, or asking for ninja's help. Yes, a normal day. He was finished with the paperwork and had begun assigning shinobi missions and listening to complaints. Halfway through the line Sakura and Kakashi entered the room.<p>

"Ah, Sakura, good to see you again," Minato smiled

"We need to talk to you," Sakura's face was more serious than he had ever seen it. So, she was finally ready to tell him, huh? Minato walked to the entrance of his office after inviting Sakura and Kakashi to sit down. "I won't be seeing anyone for the remainder of the day," Minato announced as he closed the door.

He walked back to his desk, sat down, and told Sakura to talk.

She took a deep breath. "You know how I said Obito was an old friend of mine and I was here for his family and stuff?"

Minato nodded.

"That was a lie," Sakura whispered. "I've never even met Obito. The truth is... Crazy as it may sound... I'm from Konoha, eighteen years from now. My really name is Sakura Haruno, I actually have pink hair, I was recently born, and live a few houses down from the Uchihas."

Minato smiled and Sakura gaped at his reaction.

"Well, I must say Fugaku will be glad to hear that we were correct," Minato said off-handedly.

Sakura found she couldn't speak at the moment.

"Wai- you mean- then- you _knew_?" Sakura asked.

Minato nodded. "I wasn't one hundred percent, but Fugaku and I had our suspicions."

"What led you to believe?" Sakura asked dumbfounded.

"I was first suspicious when I over-heard you talking to Kakashi as Fugaku had already told me of his suspicions. You may have heard Fugaku and I whispering to each other on our way to the training ground. We wanted to see your skill set to see if you possessed skills of people we knew. Super-human strength and healing abilities that rivaled Tsunade's? We were both very shocked when we guessed she was the one that had trained you."

Sakura and Kakashi were speechless.

"We both know you didn't come _just _to tell me you were from the future so, what is it you need to tell me?" Minato asked.

Sakura shook off her feeling of awe for the man in front of her and tried her best to explain the situation. "I was sent back because a man named Madara has tampered with the past. He also tampered with me going back so I was sent two years too soon. I'm here now and think I know what needs to be changed."

Minato nodded.

"Either during or after your wife's labor, Madara is going to strike," Sakura said.

"We've been making preparations in case someone should try to take the Kyuubi," Minato said.

Sakura shook her head. "It doesn't matter. He succeeds. The Kyuubi is released, it attacks the village, you seal it in Naruto, your son, and both you and your wife die protecting him and the village."

Minato nodded slowly. He was taking this very well. "We must make extra preparations then..." Minato sighed. Sakura, Kakashi, I want you both there to help guard her." Minato stood up and walked to the door. He opened it and Sakura expected him to tell her and Kakashi to head home and he'd talk to them later, but, instead, he shouted to no one in particular to send Fugaku to his office.

"When is the exact day Naruto will be born?" Minato asked Sakura as he sat back in his chair.

"October 10th," Sakura replied.

Fugaku entered and seemed unsurprised to see Sakura there.

"Fugaku," Minato greeted, "Sakura has just informed me of the Kyuubi's release and of my and Kushina's death by the hands of Madara. Would you like to help us formulate a plan of action?"

Fugaku nodded looking unsurprised at the news of Sakura knowing something that hadn't happened yet.

"Sakura, have you ever faced our adversary in combat?" Minato asked.

Sakura nodded. "Once under a genjutsu and I have heard of his ability. You can't touch him, you'll go right through him, if he isn't attacking and even when he attacks you only have a small window of opportunity to hit him."

Everyone nodded as they took in the information.

"If we fail," Sakura began, she wasn't going to hold back any information this time, "not only will you die, Minato, but all of the Uchihas are slaughtered in one night except for Sasuke by Itachi because of the elders' orders. Sasuke will fall so far into darkness there is no pulling him back, and the shinobi world will fall by Madara's hand. On the plus side, I have a plan to take down Madara whenever he strikes."

"Brilliant," Minato smiled. "Let's hear it.

"Okay, here it is..."

**Well guys, A Blurred Past only has like... Two or three chapters left. There is a way that I could extend it longer, but I'm not entirely certain I want to do that. It doesn't really fit with the story. If I was to do it it would be a sequel story which I wouldn't do until after Your Guardian Angel of Deception is done... And I really haven't even started that one yet...**

**Tell me what you think! Should I do it or should I not?**

**Rate and Review!**


	10. Sacrifices

Sacrifices

Sakura, are you sure about this plan?" Kakashi asked Sakura as they were walking back to the Uchiha's.

Sakura nodded, determination set on her face. "We have no other option."

"I'm sure we could think of something better!" Kakashi argued.

"Kakashi, we don't have time to think of something better. Right now this is the best plan we have."

"It's too risky Sakura," Kakashi said grabbing her wrist and turning her to face him.

"Kakashi..." Sakura sighed. "I'm willing to sacrifice everything if it means giving the people I love the life they should have had. Please, just let me do what I must."

Kakashi nodded. "Fine but I _will keep trying to think of another way to defeat Madara."_

Sakura watched as Kakashi moodily stomped away before she walked up the front steps of the Uchiha household. She took a deep breath before opening the door. "See you tomorrow at training." She called to Kakashi to stall for more time.

Kakashi waved and continued on his way while Sakura entered the house.

"I'm back!" Sakura called. She watched as Itachi practiced forms on the porch outside. The doors and windows were open allowing the cool fall air to flow into the house.

"Hello!" Mikoto called from another room. Itachi raised his head at Sakura in greeting before returning to his forms.

"Sakura," Mikoto said entering the room. "I have a favor to ask." Mikoto asked her eyes becoming starry and doe-like. That was a sure sign things were not about to go well. "It's Fugaku and my date night. We've been planning this for weeks and our sitter's mother just stopped by to say that her daughter has the flu and can't babysit tonight."

Sakura didn't like where this was going at all.

"Could you -maybe - babysit Itachi and Sasuke tonight? I know Sasuke is only three months old but he's very easygoing."

Sakura sighed. She had to suck up her insecurities and pride to help Mikoto out. She was being ridiculous. "Okay," Sakura said putting on a smile that was only partially fake. She was happy to help Mikoto, but not so happy to be in charge of the man she was in love with. Man, that sounded so wrong even in her head!

"Ah, thank you!" Mikoto nearly jumped up in down with happiness. "You are a lifesaver!"

"No kidding..." Sakura smiled.

Mikoto laughed. "I meant _other than being a ninja."_

Sakura just shrugged and smiled back. "Where is Sasuke anyway?"

"He's taking a nap."

"Oh," Sakura said for a lack of anything better to say. "When do you and Fugaku leave?"

Mikoto looked down at her watch. "Just as soon as he gets home. I'll go ahead and walk you through the boys' schedules."

Sakura nodded as she followed Mikoto to the kitchen.

"This is the kitchen," Mikoto pointed out. "I haven't gone to the store in a while so we don't really have much. You can order take out, or we have ramen. We have some stuff to make rice balls, Itachi usually likes to help with that. For Sasuke he has some pre-made bottles in the fridge you just have to warm them up. His room is right there," Mikoto indicated to the door across from her, "and you'll probably need to change him when he wakes up."

Sakura inwardly gulped.

"Bed time is 8:30 for Itachi and we try to get Sasuke in bed by eight. You can tell when he's tired because he'll start playing with his ears. That should be all..." Mikoto said wracking her brain for anything else. "Make sure Itachi brushes his teeth before bed, he likes to try and avoid it."

Itachi stopped his forms briefly upon hearing his name, but continued on. "If you need any help you can go to our neighbors, the Harunos. They live right across the street. They have a little girl named Sakura too," Mikoto finished smiling at Sakura.

Fugaku entered the house and walked to his wife. "Are you ready?" Mikoto nodded.

"Where's Mikan?" Fugaku asked.

"She has the flu, so Sakura is going to watch the kids tonight," Mikoto answered.

Fugaku gave her a look that said, "are you sure you can handle that?" though it wasn't because he thought her in capable of watching his sons.

Sakura gave him a reassuring nod and waved goodbye to them as they left. Itachi came into the house and watched as Sakura went through the fridge.

"I thought it would be fun to make the rice balls together, Itachi. What do you think?" She asked turning to Itachi. She had babysat many a six year old in her life, but Itachi was by far the weirdest.

He stared at her in an analyzing way before giving a nod.

"Great," Sakura smiled. A little cry was heard from the room across from the kitchen. "Oh, Sasuke must be up."

Itachi watched her hesitation before speaking. "I'll get him," he said as he ran towards the room. "Mom let's me get him up all the time," Itachi added as reassurance before entering the room. Sakura let out a huge breath she didn't know she was holding.

Itachi emerged holding a tired looking Sasuke five minutes later. Itachi held Sasuke out to Sakura and she took him feeling very self-conscious for a reason she didn't understand.

Sasuke looked at her wary at first because she was a stranger. He looked about to cry when Itachi whispered up to him. "It's okay Sasuke, she's nice," Itachi reassured. Sasuke didn't smile, instead he just looked... Peaceful. Like his brother's reassurance that Sakura was nice was the only thing he needed to trust her.

"Okay," Sakura said cheerily, trying to break the tension that had washed over her like a tidal wave, "who's ready to make rice balls!"

Itachi's hand shot up. Apparently he really did enjoy making rice balls.

* * *

><p>The night went by without a hitch. Itachi had smiled and laughed as he and Sakura made rice balls and "sparred" outside afterwards. Sasuke really didn't do much. He would smile when his older brother would play with him, but would only look at Sakura with a blank face.<p>

"Some things never change," Sakura had thought to herself.

Itachi was getting ready for bed and Sakura was left with Sasuke trying to get him to sleep. He was viciously abusing his ears, but refused to fall asleep. Sakura found herself humming a tune to Sasuke. It was low and without a set melody. She heard Sasuke let out a yawn as she rocked him back and forth humming to him lowly, and when she looked down at him, he was peacefully asleep.

How could something so little and innocent turn into someone so evil and insane and hurt her just to think about it? How could someone turn out to be so horribly alone in the world that he refuses to let anyone fill the hole in his heart that his brother had left him with? At that moment a new kind of resolve washed over Sakura. Any hesitations she had had about her plan were gone. She wasn't doing this for herself, she was doing this for Sasuke and Naruto. _They deserved to have their families, to feel complete and loved._

Madara was going down.

* * *

><p>Kakashi had come to get Sakura early that morning. Kakashi seemed to still be upset about her plan and didn't say a word to Sakura the whole trip. Sakura wished he would talk to her, the silence gave her too much time to dwell on her thoughts.<p>

Butterflies were flying rampant in her stomach. What if she failed? What if her plan was flawed and didn't work? Sure Minato had agreed with it, however hesitantly, and said he thought that it should work, but what if it didn't?

Her breaths were becoming quick and shallow as she started doubting herself.

A hand grabbed hers and squeezed.

"You'll be fine, your plan is going to work," Kakashi assured her.

Sakura nodded feeling slightly reassured, but the butterflies were still there.

When they made it to their destination they heard yelling. Sakura told Kakashi to wait outside while she told Minato they were there. She poked her head in and saw Minato talking lowly to who she assumed was Kushina. She had never seen her before and was shocked by how _red her hair was. She was already giving birth which meant that Madara would be here anytime now._

She looked around and saw Fugaku standing off in a dark corner of the room. They made eye contact, she nodded, he nodded back, and then she went back outside with Kakashi,

"Minato said to keep to the trees and keep our eyes open," Kakashi reminded Sakura when she came out.

"Right," Sakura nodded. If she had to nod anymore her head was going to fall off...

Kakashi and Sakura jumped up quickly and quietly to the highest branch of the closest tree. Kakashi's Sharingan was showing and he was scanning the area fervently.

"Remember," Sakura whispered to Kakashi," if you see _anything throw down a kunai to the entrance of the room and Minato will transport Kushina and Naruto to another location and come back as soon as he can. In that time frame we need to distract Madara as long as humanly possible."_

Kakashi glanced at Sakura to show he understood and Sakura saw that he seemed nervous as well. Getting ready to fight someone that was supposed to be dead did that to some ninja.

"Don't worry," Sakura whispered as she nudged him with her shoulder, "we'll have Fugaku with us the whole time."

They sat in the tree for a few hours listening to the yells of Kushina and the instructing words from the nurse. Then, everything was quiet. A little cry was heard, a gasp of happiness, and then all hell broke loose.

Kakashi's attention had shifted to the left and in a flash he had thrown a kunai in front of the doorway. Sakura leapt down after the kunai, Kakashi right behind her, landing only milliseconds after kunai and looked into the room. Minato, Kushina, and Naruto were already gone. Sakura and Kakashi stood in ready stances waiting for Madara to show his face.

"Kakashi! Sakura!" They heard Fugaku yell from inside. They ran in and saw that Madara had incapacitated the two nurses and was walking towards Fugaku.

"Where are they?" Madara asked as he casually walked towards Fugaku.

Fugaku only smirked. Madara shifted his weight calculating an attack.

"Hey!" Sakura shouted throwing a kunai right through Madara's head. Except, the kunai literally went right through his head and caused no damage. Her distraction had worked though. Madara turned to her.

"_You," Madara seethed as he set his eye upon Sakura._

If the situation wasn't so serious Sakura would have bowed or curtsied.

The room exploded unexpectedly as Fugaku released fire from his mouth. Sakura and Kakashi jumped away from the collapsing ceiling while Madara stood casually and watched as Fugaku's flames went right through him. He grabbed Fugakus arm to throw him and Kakashi threw a kunai, but Madara had already let go of Fugaku. Fugaku flew towards Kakashi and Kakashi dived out of the way, but Fugaku had righted himself before coming close to hitting Kakashi. Kakashi ran in and began a series of strikes all of which were avoided by Madara.

Sakura watched as Kakashi and Fugaku took their turns attacking, waiting for an opening. Sakura watched as Fugaku was thrown into a tree and knocked out cold and again as Kakashi was thrown into Fugaku. Kakashi stumbled forward for a bit before falling unconscious as well.

"Too much of a coward to face me again?" Madara called calmly to Sakura.

There was the opening.

Sakura stuck a piece of paper to the back of her shirt and rushed recklessly forward. She began kicking and punching through him, every strike aimed perfectly at his vital organs. Madara simply laughed at her attempts. He knew they were all in vain. After thirty minutes of straight up offense Sakura put her hand on her knees to catch her breath.

She closed her eyes and completely let her guard down.

"Please," she thought to herself, "please work..."

Sakura felt an excruciating pain blossoming on her back. The pain seemed to shoot right through her body and back out through her stomach. Her body convulsed and she let out a forced, wet cough. Her vision blurred and unfocused as ripples of pain went throughout her body. She looked down and saw what she was expecting: A sword was protruding just below her chest. She had already lost a lot of blood, and she knew there was nothing she could do to save herself. It was okay, though; this had been the plan all along. She weakly reached up and grabbed the sword to keep it where it was.

She felt the seal on her back activate, and there was only one question on her mind as the death claimed her:

Did she save everyone?

* * *

><p>His heart seemed to have moved to his ears, the pounding hurt so much. The pain was<em> everywhere. He just wanted it all to end. He felt something wet and sticky pooling around him from where he lay on the ground - or at least he was pretty sure he was on the ground. He could only assume it was his blood oozing out from everywhere, but mainly his chest.<em>

Another spasm of pain hit him and he coughed up something red for possibly the hundredth time. Sasuke's Chidori hurt like _heck. He had been hit square in the chest and lightning coursed through his whole body. He had been shot back thirty feet at the least and landed. Hard. Every bone in his body was broken. He didn't know what had become of Sasuke, but he was pretty sure he was in the same predicament. His Rasengan had met its mark, that he was sure of._

His vision started spotting. In one spot he saw an image of himself at eight or nine standing on one side of a rope swing, Sasuke on the other side, and Sakura sitting in the middle. All of them were smiling and laughing. When had that happened? It hadn't, he was sure of it. It felt real though like the ghost of a memory pushed away and long forgotten. His vision filled with more specs and he welcomed death.

It would be as he said; he would no longer be the nine-tails and Sasuke would no longer bear the curse of the Uchiha. He was happy for Sasuke, he'd finally be free to be what he wanted to be, not what everyone else wanted him to be. They could live happily again without the worry of hate surrounding them.

They would both be free.

He closed his eyes and felt his last breath leave him. Then, something unexpected happened-

He woke up.

**Only one chapter left! Reviews are much appreciated! This is the chapter I am most proud of... Well, at least from where Sakura gets stabbed and on. Tell me if I should actually think I did well!**

**The Fuzz**


	11. It's Finally Over

It's Finally Over

Sakura's head felt like it was going to explode. For all she knew it may have _already _exploded. She placed a hand on her head and let out a groan. She had never had a headache this bad. What had she done to her head?

She had to stop herself from shooting up into a sitting position when she remembered. She had been facing Madara and allowed herself to be stabbed by him, as was her plan, and then...

Nothing.

She had no clue what had happened after that.

She put a cautious hand on the area just below her stomach. She was prepared to feel excruciating pain, she wasn't, however, expecting to feel a crisp and clean shirt. She looked down and saw nothing wrong with her.

"_That's strange..._" Sakura thought to herself.

She stood up and took in her surroundings for the first time. She definitely wasn't in the forest anymore. She was in a dark hallway with many pictures floating on her left. They stretched out further than she could see in the hallway. The first picture was her being stabbed by Madara. She flinched slightly at the memory of how painful that had been. She reached out to touch the sword point that was coming out of her stomach and when her fingers made contact with the picture it began to move. She watched as her nearly lifeless body began to slump off the sword. Almost too fast for her brain to follow, the seal that Minato had placed on Sakura's back gave a faint glow before Minato himself emerged from the seal with a rasengan. Madara had not expected it and was run straight through. He gave a slight cough and crumpled slowly to the ground. Madara had never once guessed that Sakura had meant to be stabbed so that Minato could transport himself from the seal concealed on Sakura's back and hit him with the rasengan while he was still materialized.

Sakura smiled. Her plan had worked after all.

The picture seemed to fast-forward to Minato going back to where Kushina and Naruto were hidden. They were the family that they were always supposed to be and nothing was going to split them up this time. The picture fast-forwarded again to a family picture of Minato, Kushina, and Naruto. Sakura's grin grew wider as a little boy named Usui and a little girl named Teru appeared in the picture with them.

Sakura laughed out loud. She didn't know whether to be happy or feel sorry for Naruto's younger siblings. She thought he would be a good older brother, but then again... Maybe not.

She continued forward to the next image that was worse than the first. It was a picture of Itachi sheathing his sword with tears in his eyes while Sasuke stared after him half-conscious. She touched it hesitantly. It started rewinding itself to when Itachi was first summoned into the Hokage's office to be told of his mission. The image froze and began fast-forwarding again and started playing as Sasuke was running home late one night. He burst through the door of his house only to find his mother, father, and Itachi all waiting for him so they could have dinner.

"You're late, Sasuke," Fugaku grumbled.

"I'm sorry father!" Sasuke exclaimed and then sat down at the table.

Sakura continued on to the next image, a slight grin on her face. The picture showed Sakura curled up in a ball while being laughed at by two boys. She touched the picture and watched it play out.

She was sitting on the ground and tears were streaming down her face. Three little boys were around her kicking dirt on her as she shouted at them to stop. A little boy shouted, "Billboard brow! You're such a weirdo!" Then two boys were suddenly there. She recognized them immediately; they were the two most popular guys in the academy. One was Naruto Namikaze, the Hokage's son. The other was Sasuke Uchiha, youngest son of the head of the Uchiha clan.

"Get lost!" Naruto yelled.

"What are you gonna do about? Get your daddy to punish me?" one of the boys taunted laughing.

Suddenly the boy was on his knees with his arm twisted behind his back. "Why would we get our father's to punish you when you're barely even worth _our_ time?" Sasuke asked. The little boy started crying, Sasuke released him, and the boy and his thugs ran away.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked squatting in front of Sakura.

Sakura just nodded her head.

"Oh no!" Naruto exclaimed over-dramatically tugging at Sasuke's shirt. "She's so injured she can't even speak!" Sasuke smirked at this while shaking his head. "Such a pity..."

The Sakura that was watching this couldn't help but be surprised. Sasuke was going along with Naruto's over-dramaticness?

The memory Sakura closed her eyes and stammered while trying to build up some confidence, "I can talk..."

"What's your name, then?" Naruto asked.

"Sakura Haruno..."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke introduced himself.

"I'm Naruto Namikaze!" Naruto shouted.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura." both Naruto and Sasuke said at the same time, causing them to chuckle a bit.

"Nice to meet you too, Namikaze-sama, Uchiha-sama..."

"No need for formalities, we're all friends here. Right, Sasuke?" Naruto said standing up and helping Sakura to her feet.

"Right." Sasuke agreed.

The memory faded away and Sakura felt butterflies in her stomach. Sasuke was actually living like a kid was supposed to! After that memory, other memories flooded into her head. Sasuke, Naruto, and her had become best friends after that point.

One image played of her swinging with Sasuke and Naruto on either side of her on the swing while Itachi stood behind them and pushed.

"Higher, higher!" Sakura commanded while Itachi complied, laughing.

Another was during a celebration with fireworks. The noise scared Teru and Sakura placed her hand over Teru's ears.

"It's okay," Sakura said comforting Teru, "it's just a noise."

Then of a picnic with the Harunos, Namikazes, and Uchihas. They were all laughing at something Minato had said.

Another image was of the Chuunin exams. Sakura wasn't as weak, and Naruto didn't have the nine-tails, so together they were able to fend Orochimaru off long enough to run. Orochimaru followed them, but a strange thing happened. Itachi, who was an over-seer of the exams, appeared suddenly.

"Run!" he commanded as he stayed behind to take care of Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was never heard from again.

The next was of her trying to stop him that night, but, just like the other image, it quickly rewound itself and fast-forwarded. Sakura, now sixteen, was laughing as she danced with Naruto at Itachi and his wife's wedding. Then, later on in the day, she was waving goodbye as Naruto left to train with Jiraiya, and Sasuke left to train with Kakashi. She then turned around and walked towards Tsunade, who had come to take charge of the hospital, to train with her as well.

Naruto, Jiraiya, Sasuke, and Kakashi had yet to return.

There was another image Sakura didn't recognize. It seemed different then the others. The frame was blackened and rickety and the picture in it was just a piece of singed paper. She reached her hand up tentatively while squinting at the picture. She was somewhat scared of the black picture and decided not to touch it. She turned and saw a boy standing next to her.

"It's you!" Sakura exclaimed turning to him.

"_You did it_," he smiled.

Sakura smiled back, she knew his presence meant she was going home.

He extended his hand and Sakura hesitated taking it.

"I have a question before I go..." Sakura said.

"_Don't you mean _three_ questions?" _the boy grinned.

Sakura nodded. "Yes, I suppose I do. That picture frame... What is it?"

"_It is a glimpse of what would have happened if you failed,"_ the boy said. "_Go ahead and look at it. There is nothing to fear in what cannot be."_

Sakura turned back to the picture frame and cautiously touched it and watched as the picture began to play.

She was seeing Naruto off then she passed out before he left. She remembered that part. The memory continued into the future. Sakura watched as Naruto found Sasuke and they began to fight. There was one final blow with Sasuke's Chidori, and Naruto's Rasengan. The explosion was terrible, engulfing them both in its wrath. When the smoke cleared, Sakura saw that they had both died. She gasped and held her hands to her mouth. The frame then shook, and exploded.

"Naruto... And Sasuke... They would have..." Sakura didn't even know where to begin.

The boy shook his head and took her hand. "_There is nothing to be sad over in that picture. You should only feel elated that _you_ were the one that prevented this."_

Sakura nodded and turned to him again. "My second question is, who was Daisuke?"

"_Madara made him up in an attempt to make you forget your mission."_

Sakura shook her head. "I guessed that, but he was so familiar..."

_"He used the memories of someone you knew, but never got to meet after he had tampered with the past."_

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"_Someone you know was supposed to be like that, but after Madara tampered with the past that person's personality changed."_

"But _who _was it?" Must the boy always speak so mysteriously?

"_Surprising as this may sound, Daisuke was somewhat like Sasuke."_

Sakura sniggered.

"_You do not have all of your new memories yet; it will make sense once you go back."_

"I'll take your word for that," Sakura sighed. "My last question is-"

"_Who am I?_" he smiled. He had been anticipating this question for a while now. "_Somehow I think you already know. I'm the only one whose death was not tampered with; the only one that was supposed to die." _

Sakura thought for a moment and tried to remember what she knew about him. He was blind in the left eye, she had seen that flash of red in Madara's genjutsu, his black hair, and black eyes...

She snapped her fingers. "You're Obito Uchiha!"

Obito smiled and nodded. He then led her a little ways down the hall, let her hand go, stepped back, and said, "_Well done, Sakura. Those who were meant to exist but had their lives taken before they could even begin living may now walk the earth_."

With that the floor beneath her opened and she floated down to the bottom.

* * *

><p>Sakura woke up on her stomach feeling something soft underneath her. She guessed she was in a bed by the way her head was slightly raised and by the feeling of gentle warmth placed on top of her body.<p>

She lay in the bed contentedly with her eyes still closed when she realized this bed was not her own, though the feeling of familiarity was present. She reached her right hand over the right edge of the bed only to come into contact with a wall. In her bedroom her bed was in the middle of a wall with a desk on the right and not a wall for a neighbor. She then brought her left hand over the left side of the bed and touched a metal table. She had a wooden nightstand. Sakura lay befuddled for a few moments as to why this bed felt so familiar.

Then it hit her; she had spent many a night in this particular bed.

It was the bed of Sasuke Uchiha.

Now, don't get the wrong idea, she had never actually slept in the bed _with_ Sasuke. She just slept there whenever she stayed the night. (Sasuke had always been banished to the living room couch)

"_Sasuke,"_ Sakura couldn't help but think of him.

She spread her left hand over the sheets, scrunching them up. She enclosed them in her fist and squeezed them as if it would bring Sasuke closer to her again.

She felt a familiar ache in her chest and throat tightening before she released the sheets.

After her "I miss you" moment she started thinking of practical questions. The most obvious one being: "Why am I in Sasuke's bed?" In fact, she vocalized the question before sitting up and feeling around for the switch on his desk lamp.

She found it, after causing some pens to sacrifice themselves for the good of the cause, flipped it to the "on" position, only to find it had been unplugged. She let out a groan and some not too kind words as she tried to find the outlet and get the cord in.

After several trying minutes, she succeeded and the light illuminated the room, causing her to squint slightly.

Sakura's suspicions of being in Sasuke's room were confirmed once she saw the entirety of the room. She froze as her mind was filled with different memories than she was used to, but then, after a few minutes it was hard to recall if those old memories were just a nightmare.

"Sasuke isn't evil, he's training with Kakashi-sensei," Sakura reassured herself. "He left two years ago and, if they still keep to their plan, he'll be back in two more years..." Sakura clutched her chest with her hands and took a deep, calming breath. He would be back, maybe not as soon as everyone would hope, but he would be back.

Sakura tossed back the covers, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and proceeded to the door. She opened the door quietly, unsure of what time it was, and walked with a "pat pat" down the hall.

"Hello...?" Sakura called timidly. "Mikoto...? Mr. Uchiha...?"

She continued to the living room and saw black hair showing over the arm of the sofa. She laughed quietly remembering all of the times that had been Sasuke because she had slept in his room or because she had fallen asleep on his bed while they were hanging out.

He had never roused her at those times; though, she had always woken up the next day to find her head moved to a pillow and the blankets pulled over her. The memory caused her to smile.

She approached the sleeping figure and discovered it was Itachi, who had fallen asleep while reading a book. Sakura automatically looked at his left hand and grinned because of the symbolic, golden band around his finger.

Itachi had been married for two years now and the adornment still caused Sakura to smile.

Sakura guessed Itachi's wife was in the guest bedroom asleep. Sakura shifted her weight from one foot to the other while debating whether or not she should wake him.

She decided she would wake him up, he wouldn't mind. Sakura took her index finger and poked him on the side of the head three times with it.

"Itachi..." Sakura whispered.

"Mm..." Itachi groaned. Wha' time's it?"

Sakura smirked at his groggy language and responded, "Not a clue."

"Sakura?" Itachi asked suddenly wide-awake. He was a high-ranked ninja and as such it didn't take him long to come to. "You're awake?"

"Yeah," Sakura responded wondering why he was so surprised. "Why does that shock you?"

Itachi sat silent for a few moments. "You fell," Itachi responded finally.

"Fell...?" Sakura asked. She had no recollection of what happened.

"You were on your way back from an escort mission with Usui and Teru Namikaze. The details are unclear as to what exactly happened, but you were approached by a rogue ninja. You protected Usui and Teru, but you were thrown from a cliff in the process."

"How long was I out...?" Sakura asked.

"You've been in a coma for a month," Itachi responded.

"But, if I was in a coma then why am I here?" Sakura asked frantically.

"You were taken immediately to Tsunade, and she told us it would be best to keep you in a familiar place around familiar voices."

"Then why not my own house - with my parents?" Sakura asked tears welling in her eyes. It was scary to find you had been in a coma for a month and not remember how it happened.

"Sakura, calm down," Itachi whispered soothingly, guiding her to sit down. "Your parents have been on a mission for two months now and have been unable to return. They left you in our care."

Sakura took a few deep breaths before asking her next question, "Itachi, in that month has...?"

Itachi shook his head. "No word from either of them. No news is good news, Sakura," Itachi assured her. "You should be back in bed.

Sakura nodded staring unseeingly in front of her. Itachi sighed and helped her up. Sakura then walked slowly back to Sasuke's room and fell asleep thinking of when she would see him again.

* * *

><p>She woke up in the same room she had fallen asleep in. She moved her head slightly and closed her eyes tighter begging the sun to let her sleep a little longer.<p>

Someone in the room noticed her movement and exclaimed, "Sakura!" She quickly opened her eyes and looked around. She saw Mikoto beaming at her.

"Oh, thank heavens you're awake!" Mikoto exclaimed. "We were beginning to think you weren't going to wake up."

"Mikoto..." Sakura said.

"I'm so happy!" Mikoto said hugging Sakura. "Itachi said that you had woken up last night, but I wasn't going to believe him until I saw it for myself."

Sakura smiled returning the hug.

"It's good to be awake."

Mikoto sat and caught Sakura up on everything that had happened in the month she had been unconscious. Sakura had quickly learned that nothing had really happened in that month. Minato had sent out a messenger bird to tell Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, and Jiraiya of what had happened to her, but they had received no response.

"It's okay, Sakura," Mikoto said when she saw Sakura's head sag in sadness. "I'm sure they're okay."

Sakura nodded not entirely convinced. She was curious as to why everyone was so concerned about how Sakura felt about the situation. She wasn't curious for very long as the memory hit her.

Sasuke and Sakura had been dating for a little over a year before Sasuke had left. The memory caused a small, sad smile to appear on Sakura's face. It was a bittersweet memory. They had both been devastated when Kakashi had informed Sasuke of the plan for Sasuke to train with him, but Sakura told Sasuke he had to go. It would be an experience he couldn't miss. Something else had happened before he left, but Sakura couldn't remember what it had been.

"By the way..." Mikoto said. "I should probably inform you that we were planning on having a dinner party with the Namikazes tonight, but we can post-pone. I'm sure they would understand."

"Oh, no!" Sakura protested. "Don't cancel on my account! I feel just fine. Besides, it'll be good to see the Namikazes again."

Mikoto gave a smile and nodded before leaving the room and informing Sakura that she would grab her something to wear.

Sakura smiled. She couldn't wait to see Minato again, and, upon getting her old memories back, she discovered that she and Kushina had become rather close as well.

Mikoto came into Sasuke's room fifteen minutes later with one of Sakura's sundresses.

"I chose this one, I hope it's not your least favorite," Mikoto said laying it on Sasuke's bed.

Sakura smiled as she traced the pattern with her hand. "This is actually one of my favorites," she recalled wearing it when Sasuke had told her he loved her over a year ago.

"Well, the Namikazes will be here in an hour and a half if you want to take a proper shower," Mikoto said walking towards the door.

"Oh, yes, _please_," Sakura nearly exclaimed. She grabbed the dress Mikoto had chosen, ran past Mikoto, and practically dove towards the bathroom door. Before shutting the door behind her, she heard Mikoto let out a light laugh.

Sakura began taking her dirty, grimy shirt off and felt something hit her chest. She looked down and saw a metal chain with something dangling on it. She grabbed the item and held it up for inspection.

She nearly let out a scream when she saw a silver band with a beautiful diamond in the middle.

"_Where in the world...?"_ Sakura thought curiously to herself as she started her shower. She shook her head in a way to forget about it. She would remember where she had gotten it later. She was still getting all of her memories back after changing the past.

* * *

><p>After taking a long, glorious shower, Sakura emerged completely ready. She began descending the stairs slowly, her hand gliding along the railing. She stopped briefly to look at a picture of Sasuke with Itachi on Itachi's wedding day. That had been the last time she had seen Sasuke in two years. She laughed at the memory of Itachi chucking a piece of cake at Sasuke for not smiling enough on his brother's wedding day.<p>

She continued down the stairs.

"Sakura, you look beautiful," A voice said to her.

"You can hardly tell she's been unconscious for a month, huh?" A very familiar voice said. Sakura could distinctly hear the sound of someone being hit upside the head.

She turned to the voices and nearly jumped over the railing in an effort to hug them sooner. She jumped down the rest of the stairs and tackled Naruto in a tight embrace. After Naruto got over the unexpected hug, he wrapped his arms around Sakura and spun her around.

"You had me worried sick!" Naruto shouted setting Sakura back on the ground but not relinquishing his grip.

"I've missed you..." Sakura whispered into Naruto's shirt. She could practically hear Naruto's grin as he ruffled her pink hair.

"I've missed you too."

Sakura pulled away and hugged Kushina.

"I'm glad you're awake, Sakura."

* * *

><p>The dinner was fantastic, enjoyable, hilarious, and unbearably painful.<p>

Everyone was there but Sasuke and that alone was enough to make her cry. She didn't, though.

Sakura stood up and stretched.

"Well, I think I'm going to head on home," Sakura said. "It's getting late, and I think sleeping my own room will do me some good."

"Are you sure being alone is a good idea?" Fugaku sternly asked.

Sakura nodded. "Though, not all day. If it makes you feel better someone can walk me home and then someone can come pick me up at twelve tomorrow."

Minato nodded. "Naruto, take her home."

Naruto gave a salute and leapt to his feet, eager to walk Sakura home.

"Can I come, too?" Usui and Teru asked at the same time.

Minato shook his head. "Sakura hasn't seen your brother in two years, give them some time alone."

Naruto and Sakura both exited and walked on the damp road lit by the light of street lamps.

"How have you been, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"You beat me to the question," Naruto grinned. "I've been great, sad that I was away from everyone, but great. Jiraiya-sensei sure knows his stuff - perverted as he is. It was like everyday I was progressing and learning new jutsu and even learning more about myself!"

"That's awesome," Sakura smiled. "We really have missed you here."

"I've missed you guys, too," Naruto said nudging her shoulder with his. "What have you been up to?" Naruto asked.

"Well, besides being in a coma for a month?" Sakura teased.

"Yeah, besides that," Naruto laughed.

"Um, well, I've been training to be a medic-nin for the past four years, which you knew that," Sakura said thinking back on all she had been doing. She was hoping her memories would finally come. "As of last year I am officially one of Lady Tsunade's assistants," Sakura smiled at Naruto as she remembered and added. "Whenever Lady Tsunade is not there, I am in charge."

"Wow!" Naruto enthused, "that's great, Sakura! You've really moved up in the ranks since we left."

"Yeah, but it's still not the same without you guys. Oh, how I miss the pointless contests and getting into unnecessary trouble during missions."

Naruto smiled and said, "If you want I can start challenging _you _to ramen eating contests."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Sakura laughed.

"Well, here we are," Naruto announced stopping in front of a house wedged in between two shops.

"I'll see you around then," Sakura smiled giving Naruto a hug.

"Bye," Naruto responded.

Sakura gave a wave and walked into her house. She was surprised at how clean it was. Apparently someone had been dusting while she was out.

Sakura rubbed the back of her head, which was still a little sensitive, and yawned. She couldn't believe how tired she was all of a sudden.

She walked to her room, took off her dress, threw on some sweats and a t-shirt, lay on her bed, and welcomed sleep.

* * *

><p>She woke up completely refreshed. She looked at her clock and read 11:37.<p>

"I usually don't sleep this late," Sakura said aloud to herself. She stretched and got to her feet so she could head to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen she grabbed some instant ramen and fried an egg to add to the mix.

"_Naruto is a bad influence,"_ she laughed to herself as she started to eat.

After she had finished she looked at the clock again.

"_12:29... I guess they decided I would be fine on my own today..." _

Sakura sighed; she was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be going to their house today. She changed into casual wear and went outside welcoming the cool fall air.

She decided to walk around with nowhere in particular to go. It just felt good to walk. She had been lying in a bed for a month now, so she just wanted to move around.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Sakura?" A familiar voice shouted.

Sakura pivoted to see who had called her. She smiled when she saw Ino.

"Yeah," Sakura responded.

"I can't believe it! You're awake a-and walking?" Ino gasped.

"Yeah," Sakura said again.

"When did you wake up?" Ino asked running towards Sakura, seemingly close to tears.

"Yesterday," Sakura answered.

"Why did no one tell me?" Ino sighed.

Sakura shrugged. "Where are you off to, Ino?"

"Work. Blech," Ino groaned. "What about you?

"Just walking and enjoying the fall weather."

"By yourself?" She disregarded her own question and added. "It's so good to see you up and walking!"

"Yeah, it feels good to stretch out," Sakura said and added an arm stretch to prove her point.

"So, did you hear who came back yesterday?" Ino asked getting her gossip voice on.

"Yeah," Sakura said, "in fact I saw him last night."

"Really?" Ino sighed, sad that she couldn't dish out the new news. "I bet you were happy to see him," she added with an eyebrow raise.

"Of course," Sakura said, though confused about the eyebrow raise in regards to Naruto.

"Well, I've gotta go," Ino said. "I'll see you around!"

"See ya," Sakura waved and then continued on her merry way.

Sakura was alone again, wishing for the company of someone, but at the same perfectly content to be alone.

* * *

><p>She was lying in the grass at the park. She started to vaguely wonder if someone had actually come looking for her at her house and were now wondering if she was unconscious somewhere...<p>

She felt kind of bad and considered walking back just in case, but then another memory came back to her mind and it threw any thought of going back to her house out the window!

She remembered what had happened between Sasuke and her before he left. He had given her the ring concealed under he shirt.

She was secretly engaged to Sasuke Uchiha. At the time it had been somewhat unacceptable, they were only sixteen. Ninja were required to be at least eighteen. He had told her that by the time he got back they would be old enough for ninja to get married and it would matter.

She ran the thought through her mind again.

She, Sakura Haruno, was engaged to _the _Sasuke Uchiha.

She could almost faint.

He eyes were still glued shut as a cherry blossom petal floated gracefully to her nose. She blew it off and went back to her happy state. Another petal landed on her forehead and she blew it off, too. Then, several petals landed on her head and she wiped them off frustrated.

She heard a quiet laugh, "hn."

She froze, refusing to open her eyes in case she had been hearing things. She wanted to avoid the disappointment.

"You have Mom worried sick you know?" a man said confirming that she hadn't been imagining the laugh. "She's pretty sure you're unconscious in the woods somewhere and being devoured by man-eating squirrels," he monotoned.

Sakura smiled, her eyes still closed. There was not a doubt in her mind who that trademark laugh belonged to. "I always knew those blasted squirrels would be the death of me."

"I figure they will make it as slow and painful as possible, they enjoy human cries of pain, you know?"

Sakura laughed, "They also enjoy tackling birds and watching them fall to their impending doom."

"Hn, somehow I always knew."

Sakura opened her eyes for the first time and tilted her head further up and saw a black head of hair directly above her head. She rolled onto her stomach.

"Just promise me you'll at least avenge me by taking down one of the squirrels and making it sound like I put up a good fight," Sakura requested bringing herself onto her elbows. Something about her avenging line hurt a little, but she didn't remember why...

Sasuke smirked, his eyes closed. "That sounds like far too much trouble for me."

Sakura poked his forehead and smiled at the small assurance that he was real.

"I thought you knew by now I'm the only one that really matters," Sakura laughed. "Though, I do suppose you have always put your hair before me..."

Sasuke frowned and opened his eyes to glare at her. "I was considering saving you from the squirrels," he brought his face up mere inches from hers. She could feel herself blush slightly as his breath fanned over her face, "but not after that comment."

"Mhmm," Sakura said ignoring their closeness. "You talk big, Uchiha, but I know you would save yourself first."

Sasuke laughed and fell back to the ground and brought his hand up to her hair, ruffling it, and leaving it there when he was done; a motion he had done many times.

"I've missed you, Sakura," Sasuke whispered.

Sakura changed her position into a sitting one. "You would miss anyone after spending two years with Kakashi."

Sasuke had a slight frown cross his face while his hand stayed where Sakura's head had been. He sat up, still frowning slightly. "That's true, but most people would say, 'I missed you too,'" Sasuke said scratching his arm. "That's not exactly the greeting I was hoping to get from my secret fiancé."

"I missed you, too," Sakura said smiling warmly at him. She enjoyed the sound of him calling her his fiancé. She put her hand on his cheek. Sasuke leaned towards her, his eyes partially closed. Sakura found her eyes also closing as he leaned closer and closer.

"Too late," he whispered into her ear and then leaned away from her.

"I thought we were better friends," Sakura lamented.

"So did I," Sasuke said referring to how he had to make her say she missed him, too.

Sakura hit him playfully on the arm and laughed. "Let's go before your mom dreams up more horrid things that could be happening to me."

Sasuke stood up and brushed his pants off, then extended his hand to help her up.

"Ah, nothing like taking the gentlemanly extended hand that was just used to wipe mud off of a pair of paints," Sakura sighed as she took his hand.

"You're tempting me to just let you fall back down," Sasuke chuckled.

"But, I'm too cute for you to do that," Sakura said smiling like a five year old does when posing for a picture; eyes shut tight and all of her teeth being forced to show.

Sasuke let out a, "Hn," before Sakura fell back to the ground with an, "Oof!"

Before she could glare at him, Sasuke was beside her and giving her a kiss.

"Come on," he said when the broke apart, "it's time to tell everyone I intend to be married to you this year."

Sakura smiled at Sasuke.

Everything was okay.

_Fin_

**The end! Sniffle, it's been a fun ride! You guys are great! Thank you so much for all of the reviews, favoritings, and story alerts! You guys are awesome!**

**What'd you think? Did you know it was Obito or did I conceal that well? Did you guess that Daisuke was actually like Sasuke?**

**For all of you that have read it, this means that I am now going to be paying attention to Your Guardian Angel of Deception!**

**Again, you guys are awesome!**

**The Fuzz**


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